Stock market fixing:
Nikkei 225 +210.37 +1.5% 13,953.73
Topix +17.26 +1.3% 1,360.05
FTSE 100 -8.70 -0.14% 6,211.90
CAC 40 +22.46 +0.45% 4,998.67
Xetra Dax +24.24 +0.34% 7,060.19
DOW -44.13 -0.34% 12,832.18
NASDAQ +6.63 +0.27% 2,495.12
S&P 500 -0.54 -0.04% 1,403.04
10yr Note +1.3400 +0.355% 3.909%
NYMEX Crude Oil +1.57 +1.26% 125.80
Gold -15.30 -1.73% 869.60

Japan's stocks rose the most in a week after forecasts from companies focused on Asian markets fueled confidence earnings can withstand a slowdown in the U.S. economy.
Nikon Corp. had its biggest gain in five years, while Fujitsu Ltd. soared the most in 17 years. Isuzu Motors Ltd. led automakers higher after saying profit will rise.
Nikon surged 13%, the biggest gain since November 2002, while Tamron Co., which makes interchangeable camera lenses, added 6.3%. The Topix Precision Instruments Index had the biggest gain on the benchmark.
Nikon yesterday forecast annual profit will rise to a record for a fifth-straight year and announced its first share buyback in five years.

European stocks declined as speculation that accelerating inflation will keep central banks from lowering interest rates dragged down financial shares, while energy companies dropped on concern oil demand will slow.
Barclays Plc fell for a fourth day as inflation in the U.K. jumped the most since 2002, while Alliance & Leicester Plc tumbled on writedowns. Royal Dutch Shell Plc and StatoilHydro ASA declined as the International Energy Agency lowered its oil demand forecast.
U.K. consumer prices climbed 3% from a year earlier, compared with 2.5% in March, the Office for National Statistics said today in London. The result was the highest in 13 months and exceeded the 2.6% median prediction of 37 economists.
Alliance & Leicester decreased 10%. The British bank that gets a quarter of revenue from mortgages and savings announced writedowns of 391 million pounds ($763 million).
Credit Agricole SA dropped 5.6% after France's third-largest bank by market value said it may raise 5.9 billion euros in a rights offer to replenish capital as first-quarter profit dropped on subprime-related writedowns.

U.S. stocks closed mix amid Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said financial markets remain ``far from normal,'' home prices tumbled and the outlook for securities firms' profits worsened. Stocks slipped modestly Tuesday morning as investors weighed Hewlett-Packard's nearly $14 billion acquisition of EDS, Wal-Mart's better earnings and tepid forecast and another record for gas prices.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. led 28 of 30 banks and brokerages in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index lower after Bernanke said financial companies will have to raise more capital. Bank of America Corp. slipped on a forecast for home- equity loan losses that was wider than its prediction last month. Hewlett-Packard Co. tumbled the most since January on its $13.9 billion purchase of Electronic Data Systems Corp.
Financial shares also retreated after Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Meredith Whitney reduced earnings estimates for Wall Street's biggest securities firms. Bank of America dropped. The second- biggest U.S. lender expects losses to top 2.5% of its $118 billion in loans linked to home values, Liam McGee, president of the company's consumer and small business division, said at a conference in New York sponsored by UBS AG. The bank previously projected a loss rate of between 2% and 2.5%.
Hewlett-Packard dropped. The purchase is the company's largest since the $18.9 billion takeover of Compaq Computer Corp. and will more than double its sales from computer services.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, declined as Chief Executive Officer H. Lee Scott said there are ``uncertainties'' about the rest of the year.

The dollar rose for the first time in four days against the euro as retail sales excluding autos increased in April more than forecast, raising speculation the Federal Reserve will stop cutting borrowing costs. The U.S. currency appreciated versus the Australian dollar and the Swiss franc as Cleveland Fed President Sandra Pianalto cited the risk of inflation. The yen fell against the Canadian dollar, the South African rand and the Brazilian real as reduced currency volatility encouraged investors to buy higher-yielding assets funded by low-cost loans in Japan.
The pound dropped as much as 0.8%, the lowest since Feb. 21, as London's property market had the most widespread price declines last month in at least 14 years, while inflation in April was the highest since 2002. The Bank of England held its target lending rate at 5 percent on May 8.
Retail sales excluding autos in the U.S. rose 0.5 percent last month, following a revised 0.4 percent increase the previous month, the Commerce Department said in Washington. The median forecast of 74 economists surveyed was for a 0.2 percent increase. Total sales fell 0.2 percent, as economists forecast.
Futures on the Chicago Board of Trade show a 94 percent chance the Federal Reserve will hold its target lending rate at 2 percent at its next meeting on June 25, compared with 86 percent odds yesterday. The balance of bets is for a cut of a quarter-percentage point. There's a 22 percent chance of an increase to 2.25 percent in September.
Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke told an Atlanta Fed conference in Sea Island, Georgia, that financial markets remain unsettled and the central bank will increase its auctions of cash to banks as needed.

EUR/USD printed lows around $1.5430. Bids around $1.5435/25 helped the rate to rebound to $1.5520.

GBP/USD rose sharply after strong inflation report but soon retreated back to lows near $1.9453, then – to $1.9417. Further rate held near $1.9492.

USD/JPY printed lows near Y103.40 before it rebounded to Y103.80/00.

Today’s focus on US data, including consumer prices. Analysts predict Core CPI rose 0.2% in April.