Good morning traders!

In the US last night, the Dow closed near its session high, rising 169.78 points to 10,385, locking in its biggest rise since April 21. The S&P500 also closed near its session high, rising 19.79 points to 1,199.38. while the Nasdaq Composite ended at its session high, up 33.62 points at 2,115.83.

The US market reacted favourably to the nomination by the White House of economic adviser Ben Bernanke as the next Federal Reserve chief.

In Asia today, the Hang Seng ended the morning session up 29.53 points at 14,431.88, with the Nikkei up 208.55 points at 13,314.73 at the mid-point.

New York's main oil contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December was down two cents at $60.30 after closing at $60.32 dollars in the US yesterday.

Early broker notes:
ELECTROCOMPONENTS CUT TO 'UNDERPERFORM' VS 'NEUTRAL' AT CSFB
SIGNET GROUP UPGRADED TO 'BUY' VS 'HOLD' AT DEUTSCHE BANK

Happy trading!

G.

Good Morning all

Midday Market Summary

Does anyone know whats going on with MRKS? (I have a few for the long term, and I do use most of the shareholder perks which are very useful this year!)

End of day market summary