US Markets (DOW and NASDAQ) Today : April 08,2008

US markets are down on the second consecutive day this week with minutes from last federal reserve policy meeting. DOW lost 0.3% and NASDAQ by 0.7%

Triggers :
1. expected weak first-quarter earnings reporting period
2. minutes from federal reserve policy meeting which indicated the signs of recession
3. Feb pending home sales index fell by 1.9% vs 1% expected
4. crude oil fell by 59 cents to reach $108.50 a barrel
5. dollar gain versus euro but fell against yen

Impact on India : With the bad cues coming from US, the markets can do gap down opening and can be range bound b/w 4650 - 4800 levels.At the moment, asian markets are almost flat with NIKKEI down by 0.04%