In international markets today, the Japanese Nikkei 225 (-2.3% to 12525), Shanghai Composite (-3.0% to 3472.7), Hong Kong Hang Seng (-1.9% to 22849), and the BSE 30 of India (-4.9% to 15563) closed sharply lower.

In mid-session at 6:25am ET, European bourses (FTSE -0.57% to 5409.7) (CAC -0.51% to 4672) (DAX -1.4% to 6469) are soft. The Bank of England head is stating the UK is in a difficult spot between economic slowdown and inflation.

In open futures at 6:25am ET, the June Euro (up to 1.5752), May Crude Oil (flat at 105.19) and June DJIA (weaker at 12202) are looking like a down day for equities, with support in Basic Materials.

In the cash (spot) precious metals market, gold (+2.71 to 936.00), palladium (+5 to 441), platinum (+11 to 2026) and silver (+8 to 17.96) reflect $USD weakness.

UBS has started to write down the value of Auction-Rate Securities (ARS) in client accounts, the first bank to do so. I wonder how the clients will react given they thought they were buying "cash". This is very serious. Sounds like a firestorm in the making.

At noon Wednesday, Research In Motion (RIMM/RIM) will announce 4Q earnings. Now that will be interesting. Also, remember the 10th is coming up when the major US retailers start reporting on March sales. This one could be interesting too.

Lehman Brothers sues Marubeni in Japan, alleging fake documents caused them to lose $350 million. You wonder where the financial controls exist.

Canadian-born and bred concert promoter Michael Cohl, now Chairman of Live Nation Concerts (NYSE: LYV) has signed rock group U2 to a long-term deal. Live Nation, presently in partnership with InterActive Corp’s (IACI) TicketMaster to sell concert tickets is going to go into competition by year-end. Barry Diller has just wrested control of IanterActive from John Malone after a court battle. The company announced in November that TicketMaster would be spun off. These are all good companies. The question is would you want to own LYV or TicketMaster. Strikes me that Live Nation has more of an asset and may be the better choice, but I’m interested in what you have to say.

Yahoo (YHOO) is going to Shine for women.

Now that Tata Motors is beefing up its brand with a $2.5 billion purchase of Jaguar and Land Rover, and a $1.5 billion manufacturing expansion plan, Japan’s Toyota Motor (TM) may want to compete in the discount space. Ten years from now, these two and maybe China's Chery could be fighting for global leadership.

The Henry Paulson focus today ought to lead to an interesting day in the capital markets, but I shall be in meetings, working on the Cara Trading Advisors business plan and services package.

Have a good one.

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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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