1.   AUSTRALIAN stocks rose, led by banks such as Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., in reaction to falling bond yields and a surge in overseas markets.

2.   Banks and insurers tend to fare well in such conditions because falling bond yields increase the value of the large bond portfolios they tend to hold.

3.   Banks slipped with falling bonds.

4.   Biggs also told the Bloomberg Forum that falling Japanese bond prices and rising bond yields present investors with a great opportunity.

5.   A falling bond market Friday dragged shares of insurers General Re Corp. and Cigna Corp. down, much as it buoyed them earlier in the week.

6.   A weaker dollar hurt dollar earners such as Solvay SA while falling bonds hurt financial stocks such as Fortis AG.

7.   Buyers would not pay what the brokers had paid, and falling bond prices spooked the stock market.

8.   Canadian stocks closed lower as falling bond prices weighed on bank and utilities shares, traders and analysts said.

9.   DUTCH stocks fell as falling bonds helped push down financial-services companies, such as ING Group.

10.   Falling bond and stock prices also hurt the dollar, as the currency again took its lead from the financial markets.