GLOBAL-MARKETS-High-flying stocks wait on Fed signals, Apple results

(Updates to U.S. open)
* Equities lack trend as earnings roll in, bond yields creep
up
* Fed expected to stay course but outlook is improving
* Apple, Facebook, Ford, earnings due
* Graphic: Global asset performance http://tmsnrt.rs/2yaDPgn
* Graphic: World FX rates http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
*

By Matt Scuffham and Marc Jones
NEW YORK/LONDON, April 28 (Reuters) - World shares cosied up
close to record highs and the dollar and global bond yields
nudged up on Wednesday, as traders waited to see if the U.S.
Federal Reserve utters the dreaded 'T' word later - tapering of
its mass stimulus programme.
The broad expectation is that it won't want to unsettle
markets for now, and with a packed day of corporate earnings,
economic data and U.S. President Joe Biden's first address
before a joint Congress session there was plenty
to navigate.
MSCI's broadest index of world shares .MIWD00000PUS was
sidestepping towards its best month of the year so far.
The index .MIWD00000PUS , which tracks shares in 49
nations, rose 0.54 point, or 0.08 percent, to 706.08.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 113 points, or
0.33%, to 33,871.93, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 5.3 points, or
0.13%, to 4,192.02 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped
23.69 points, or 0.17%, to 14,066.53.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX rose 0.11%
The dollar was on course for its first unbroken two-day run
of gains of the month - April is currently set to be its
cruellest month since last July.
Benchmark 10-year notes US10YT=RR last fell 2/32 in price
to yield 1.6289%, from 1.622% late on Tuesday.
"The thing that we are going to watch most closely is if the
Fed says anything along the lines of tapering of asset
purchases," said Jim Caron, a senior portfolio manager at Morgan
Stanley Investment Management.
"As long that doesn't get mentioned, we are all good," he
said, explaining that with the coronavirus pandemic still
worsening in many parts of the world, investors would view any
move towards tapering as premature.
Most Fed watchers expect Chairman Jerome Powell to repeat
the bank's recent message that its low interest rates and
support programmes will remain in place for a long time yet.
Biden will also address Congress and is likely to underscore
his administration's plans for infrastructure and stimulus
spending. These developments would normally be positive for stocks,
but analysts say so much economic optimism is already priced
into the equity market that it is difficult to budge equities
from current levels.
Otherwise, Europe's traders were waiting to hear from ECB
President Christine Lagarde and other top policymakers. Economic
data releases showed an unexpected drop in Germany's GfK
consumer confidence reading for May though an
equivalent in France at least stayed steady for April.
EYED
U.S. earnings later include tech and internet giants Apple
AAPL.O , Facebook FB.O and Qualcomm QCOM.O , as well as Ford
F.N . .N
Facebook is expected to report a revenue rise due to online
advertising demand during the COVID pandemic, while Apple is
expected to post a more than 32% jump in revenue, driven by 5G
phone demand.
There was a mixed bag of earnings from Tesla TSLA.O , 3M
MMM.N , Microsoft MSFT.O , and Google-parent Alphabet
GOOGL.O on Tuesday.
In the FX markets, the dollar index =USD rose 0.144%, with
the euro EUR= down 0.21% to $1.2065.
As well as the rise in Treasury yields helping the dollar
higher, break-even rates on 10-year Treasury Inflation-Protected
Securities US10YTIP=RR , a measure of expected annual inflation
for the coming decade, rose to 2.41%, the highest since 2013.
In the cryptocurrency market there was excitement as the
European Investment Bank said it would sell a two-year digital
bond worth 100 million euros ($120 million) on the ethereum
blockchain network. Rival cryptocurrency Bitcoin BTC=BTSP fell 0.6%.
In commodities, spot gold XAU= dropped 0.4% to $1,769.84
an ounce. U.S. gold futures GCc1 fell 0.72% to $1,765.20 an
ounce.
($1 = 0.8278 euros)

<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
World FX rates YTD http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
Global asset performance http://tmsnrt.rs/2yaDPgn
Global markets in April and year to date https://tmsnrt.rs/3nAA3rm
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
(Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Steve Orlofsky)