Hello traders!

In the US tonight, the DJIA was down 51.29 points at 8,025 with the S&P500 off
8.72 points at 857.51 and the Nasdaq Composite 14.88 points lower at 1,679.41.

See you in the morning with the latest....

G.

Good morning traders!

In Asia this morning, the Nikkei was down 150.15 points at 8,576.19 with the Hang
Seng ending the morning down 204.74 points at 14,635.68.

Crude oil was trading at $49.17 a barrel on Nymex.

Happy trading!

G.

Morning all. Market reports:

The Times
The Times (Need to know)
FT
The Guardian
The Independent
This is Money

Officals from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) will be holding talks with banks and other financial institutions over the threat posed by a flu pandemic.
FSA to hold bank talks over swine flu threat

Britains too-big-to-fail banking groups could be forced to hoard billions of pounds of extra capital as an insurance against future financial crises, after chancellor Alistair Darling decided against splitting them up.
UK banks face higher capital ratios

The number of UK companies with "critical problems" increased by 59pc in the first quarter of 2009, compared to the same period last year, according to research by Begbies Traynor, the insolvency and restructuring group.
Number of UK companies with 'critical problems' surges

The average cost of a home in England and Wales dropped by 0.3pc during the month, with only 32pc of postcode districts reporting price falls compared with 59pc in February, according to Hometrack, the housing intelligence group.
House prices fall at slowest pace in a year

In a further sign of improving sentiment in credit markets, investors have increased the amount of money invested in the market for risky corporate bonds, and yields in the high-yield or junk bond market have fallen sharply - even as default rates soars to historic highs.
High-yield bonds feel thaw

GM has asked bondholders to respond by May 26 to its proposal for a debt-for-equity swap but warned on Monday that if the plan failed to go through by June 1 and it filed for bankruptcy, they might receive no consideration at all.
GM warns bondholders

NIKKEI 225	AUSTRALIA ASX200	SHANGHAI	HANG SENG

KOSPI	VIX	GOLD	NYMEX CRUDE

Regulators have told Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. that the banks may need to raise more capital based on early results of the government's so-called stress tests of lenders, according to people familiar with the situation.
Fed Pushes Citi, BofA to Increase Capital

Oil major BP Plc reported a 62 percent fall in first quarter profits on Tuesday, due to a collapse in oil and gas prices, but beat all analysts' forecasts. Europe's second-largest oil company by market value said its replacement cost (RC) net profit fell to $2.39 billion from $6.59 billion last year. Excluding one-offs items, which amounted to a net charge of $194 million, the result was $2.58 billion, ahead of an average forecast of $2.28 billion from a Reuters poll of seven analysts.

ATK UBS: upgraded to buy from neutral, tp raised to 650 from 450
BARC Nomura: upgraded to buy from reduce, tp raised to 320 from 111
BP. NCB: buy, tp 560
BRBY Morgan Stanley: equalweight, tp raised to 431 from 270
CNA Morgan Stanley: downgraded to underweight from equalweight, tp cut to 280 from 330
EZJ Citigroup: downgraded to hold from buy, tp raised to 370 from 360
GOG JP Morgan: underweight, tp raised to 1084 from 998
LLOY Nomura: reduce, tp raised to 64 from 42
RBS Nomura: reduce, tp raised to 35 from 20
RYA Citigroup: tp raised to 3.80 from 3.30
STAN Nomura: buy, tp raised to 1080 from 800

Midday Market Overview

House builders have been marked down heavily today

End-of-day Market Overview