Smart rally in capital goods, banks and realty counters helped the Indian benchmark Sensex to extend its overnight gains by 224 points at 10:30 hours.

The NASDAQ OMX Group (Nasdaq:NDAQ) reported first quarter 2008 net income of $121.4 million, or $0.69 per diluted share, an increase of $103.1 million from $18.3 million, or $0.14 per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2007.

At the end of the settlement date of April 30, 2008, short interest in 2,653 NASDAQ Global Market securities totaled 9,427,457,178 shares compared with 9,420,702,070 shares in 2,680 Global Market issues reported for the prior settlement date of April 15, 2008. The end-of-April short interest represents 4.86 days average daily NASDAQ Global Market share volume for the reporting period, compared with 4.92 days for the prior reporting period.

The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. ("NASDAQ") (Nasdaq:NDAQ) announced today the results of the semi-annual re-ranking of the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index(r) (Nasdaq:NBI), which will become effective with the market open on Monday, May 19, 2008.

Continuing the parade of conflicting economic news, the employment report showed the US economy shedding fewer jobs than forecast and the unemployment rate unexpectedly dropping to 5%.

Are we near an inflection point in markets? I have heard numerous talking heads on CNBC recently saying that markets are near a turning point. The mantra goes something like this: the dollar is near a bottom, therefore commodities are topping out and stocks will move higher. While all this may come true, I think there are reasons to be skeptical.

At the end of the settlement date of April 15, 2008, short interest in 2,680 NASDAQ Global Market(SM) securities totaled 9,420,702,070 shares compared with 9,480,978,979 shares in 2,688 Global Market issues reported for the prior settlement date of March 31, 2008. The mid-April short interest represents 4.92 days average daily NASDAQ Global Market share volume for the reporting period, compared with 3.97 days for the prior reporting period.

The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) announced consolidated market performance statistics for its U.S. and Nordic exchanges for the month of March 2008.

TRM Corporation (Nasdaq: TRMM) today announced its plans to withdraw its request for hearing and have its shares of common stock delisted from the NASDAQ Global Market.

Bank of America reported net income of $1.21 billion on revenues of $17 billion. This represents a 6.3% decline in revenues and a sharp 77% drop in net income, due to about $2 billion in asset write-downs and an increase in provisions for credit losses of about $4.5 billion.

The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) announced today that it has filed its application with the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) for the NASDAQ OMX Pan European Market to become a multilateral trading facility (MTF).

The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) and Millennium India Acquisition Company, Inc. (AMEX:MQC) announced that its Board of Directors has approved the decision to switch the listing of its common stock from the American Stock Exchange to The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. effective, April 15th, 2008. The company now trades under the ticker symbol (Nasdaq:SMCG) and marks the 17th AMEX switch to NASDAQ OMX this year.