GLOBAL MARKETS

So far, in the first quarter of 2011, DailyFX's forecasts for the year of 2011 have been very wrong.

The companies whose shares are actively trading in Wednesday's morning session include Orchid Cellmark, MSC Industrial, Nu Skin Enterprises, Clean Harbors and American Superconductor.

The price of Gold reached new record highs vs. the Dollar on Wednesday in London, breaching $1460 per ounce as world stock markets also kept rising together with commodities and higher-yielding currencies.

Following is the full text of an internal memo sent by John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) to the employees, where he talked about the company's execution issues, loss of credibility and making bold changes.

UN atomic watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency has released the following update on the status of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: Orchid Cellmark, Westport Innovations, Golar LNG, Hansen Medical, and Immunomedics. The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: American Superconductor, Randgold Resources, Optimer Pharmaceuticals, ASML Holding, and A-Power Energy Generation Systems.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Tuesday are: Texas Instruments, Nvidia, Monsanto, Urban Outfitters, Broadcom, Corning, Freeport-McMoRan and Cephalon.

Oppenheimer has upgraded shares of Broadcom to outperform from perform citing strong growth profile, management's stated efforts to pursue profitable growth, a more disciplined operating expense and compensation strategy.

Genpact Ltd (NYSE: G), the outsourcing company spun off from General Electric Co., has agreed to acquire privately-held IT services provider Headstrong Corp. for $550 million in cash to expand its operations in the United States.

Shares of Diamond Foods, Inc. (DMND) touched a new life-time high of $63.96 on Tuesday. The packaged food company said it agreed to buy Pringles business of Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) in a deal valued at $2.35 billion.

U.S. stocks ended mixed on Tuesday as weaker-than-expected ISM Services PMI report and hawkish Fed meeting minutes weighed on the sentiment.

Shares of Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (QCOR) touched a new life-time high of $18.50 on Tuesday. The company issued preliminary metrics for the first quarter, whereby it projects a 115 percent first quarter surge in sales of its main drug H.P. Acthar Gel that is used to treat certain disorders with an inflammatory component.

The top after-market NYSE gainers on Tuesday are: CVR Energy, Hudbay Minerals, Endeavour Silver, Exterran Holdings and CryoLife. The top after-market NYSE losers are: China Ming Yang Wind Power, Louisiana-Pacific, Kilroy Realty Corp, PulteGroup and Teradyne.

U.S. stocks ended mixed on Tuesday as weaker-than-expected ISM Services PMI report and hawkish Fed meeting minutes weighed on the sentiment.

The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: SoundBite Communications, America First Tax Exempt Investors, Wet Seal, A. Schulman, and Myrexis. The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: American Superconductor, Dollar Financial, Mitcham Industries, Zoltek Companies, and Liquidity Services.

The Australian share market closed higher for a sixth consecutive trading day with activity subdued after the Reserve Bank (RBA) left interest rates unchanged.

US stocks finished mixed on Tuesday on a worse-than-expected ISM Services PMI report.

The forex market is dominated by financial/speculative transactions rather than commercial transactions. Of financial transactions, it’s dominated by trades in currencies themselves rather than portfolio flows.

Members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) discussed the possibility of reducing the $600-billion size of the second round of quantitative easing (QE2).

FOMC Meeting Minutes March 2011

US stocks are up despite the poor ISM Services PMI data. The market is led by tech shares that benefited from the Nasdaq 100 index’s announced rebalancing.

Assets in U.S. listed Exchange-Traded Funds (ETF) and Exchange-Traded Notes (ETN) rose about 31 percent in March, according to the latest data from National Stock Exchange.

The ISM Services PMI (Purchasing Manager's Index) is the most influential US economic report.

The companies whose shares are actively trading in Tuesday's morning session include National Semiconductor, Apple, Questcor, Cubist, Intersil, Diamond Foods, Cree and Teekay LNG.

U.S. stocks slightly declined in early trade on Tuesday as investors await the release of the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.

Apple's iPad 2 could face some production issues due to shortage of touch screens as some of the producers of those distinct screens were hurt by the Japan earthquake

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Tuesday are: National Semiconductor, Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices, Microsoft, Analog Devices, Texas Instruments, H & R Block and Pultegroup.

The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Diamond Foods, Expedia, and ON Semiconductor. The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: SemiLEDs, Prospect Capital, Cree, A-Power Energy Generation Systems, Aixtron, and Apple.

Texas Instruments agreed to buy National Semiconductor, a deal that combines two industry leaders in analog semiconductors.