India, on the other hand, has come a long way in developing its economy. Before the country’s banking system is opened to direct foreign investment, the major banks of India have been buying up smaller ones.

Today, (Cara 100) HDFC (HDB) has announced it will pay $2.4 billion to acquire Centurian Bank of Punjab. HDFC has a market cap of about $13.1 billion, and is the country’s second largest private bank, next to the largest (Cara 100) ICICI Bank (IBN), which is capitalized at $30.7 billion.

Interesting to me is that HDFC didn’t have to pay a premium to market to make this acquisition, but was able to do the deal at a discount to market.

SanDisk (SNDK) might pick up steam today.

At 7:00am ET, European stock prices are up: FTSE (+1.6 pct) to 5985.6; CAC (+1.7 pct) to 4908.1; and DAX (+1.3 pct) to 6983.

Asia-Pacific equity markets, except for Shanghai (-4.07 pct) to 4192.5 and Hong Kong (-0.15 pct) to 23269, were higher on the session today. The Nikkei 225 (+3.07 pct) to 13914.6; All Ords of Australia (+0.98 pct) to 5699.8; and India’s BSE 30 (+1.74 pct) to 17650.6, were all strong.

At 7:00am ET, spot prices for gold, silver, platinum and palladium were 945.6, 18.02, 507, and 2142 respectively. Trading is quiet, although the March Euro is softer 1.4792. Crude Oil (April contracts) are 98.625, with little movement yet. The March DJIA futures are +31 to 12426

I have no further comment over what I submitted in the Week In Review.

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Links & Charts

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International Economics Review

US Economic Calendar.

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International Equity Markets Review

Europe

Here is the latest session data for the bourses of Europe.

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Here is the latest session data for the London stock exchange FTSE.

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Here is the latest session data for the German DAX.

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Here is the latest session data for the French CAC 40.

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Here is the latest session data for the Milan Italy stock exchange MIBTEL.

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Here is the latest session data for the Swiss market index.

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Asia-Pacific

Here is the latest session data for the Asia-Pacific stock exchanges.

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Here is the latest chart for the Japanese Nikkei 225 index.

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Here is the latest chart for the Singapore index .

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Here is the latest chart for the Shanghai Composite index .

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Here is the latest chart for the Hong Kong Hang Seng index .

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Here is the latest chart for the India BSE 30 index .

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Here is the latest chart for the Australian All Ordinaries index .

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US Equity Markets Review

DJIA (interactive) chart

NASDAQ Composite (interactive) chart

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Oil Review

Here is the e-miNY Jan-08 Crude Oil chart.

Interactive Chart of Daily Crude Oil:

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Gold & Precious Metals Review

Spot gold chart for the week

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Spot silver chart for the week

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Forex Review

Here is the chart of the week's trading in the $USD.

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