* Oil suffers as USO ETF sells front-month futures
* Petrocurrencies dragged under
* Ugly company reports fail to derail stocks
* End in sight for some lockdowns
* Markets eye Fed, ECB meetings this week
* World FX rates in 2020 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
By Marc Jones
LONDON, April 28 (Reuters) - World stocks jetted to their
highest in almost six weeks on Tuesday as plans to ease
coronavirus lockdowns in a number of major economies helped
offset more chaos in oil markets and warning of mounting bad
credit at HSBC and Santander.
Oil major BP had said it had suffered a near 80% plunge in
profits too but with Wall Street futures over 1% higher .EU it
was the relatively good news, rather than the bad or plain ugly
that investors seemed focused on.
Plans to ease major economies out of coronavirus lockdowns
were continuing, reassuring UBS earnings lifted European banks
nearly 6% .EU while Italy's bonds recovered further after it
had dodged a damaging credit rating downgrade on Friday.
GVD/EUR
"The general mood seems to be definitely more positive
today," said CMC markets senior analyst Michael Hewson,
highlighting that investors now viewed the peaks of coronavirus
infections in Asia, Europe and North America as behind them.
"They are banking on a v-shaped recovery (in the global
economy)... so the line of least resistance is for stock markets
to go higher especially when central banks have got their pedals
hard to the floor."
The near 2% jump in European stocks .STOXX and the rise
from Wall Street later meant MSCI's 49-country index of world
stocks .MIWD00000PUS was extending the more than 25% rebound
it has made since hitting near four-year lows last month.
Oil remained total carnage though. U.S. WTI CLc1 , which
went negative last week, was down 10% having dived as much as
20% earlier after a scramble by the United States Oil Fund (USO)
USO.P , the largest oil-focused U.S. exchange-traded product,
to shift its holdings had underscored the dwindling capacity to
store excess supply. O/R
Benchmark brent Brent LCOc1 went down a more manageable 5%
and had largely recovered by the time U.S. trading began, but it
was still at only $20 a barrel which is way below where even the
most efficient producer countries can balance their finances.
Petrocurrencies were whiplashed too. Canada's dollar CAD=
and the Norweigen crown NOK= both recovered from early falls
with the crown tearing up as much as 1.4%.
Russia's rouble RUB= also bounced back 0.5%, while
Brazil's battered real BRL= sprang up 1.2% along with Mexico's
peso MXN= and a host of other emerging market currencies that
only tend to well when investors are feeling confident.
EMRG/FRX
"Normally, a lower oil price disproportionately boosts
consumer sentiment. However, the storage problem is due to
reduced oil demand - if you are not putting petrol in your car,
you will not notice the price," UBS Chief Economist Paul Donavan
said.
"The good news is that the money saved by not buying petrol
now may be spent later in the economic bounceback."
Away from wild oil, there were signs that the market
volatility gauges that have been triggered by the rapid spread
of the coronavirus over the last few months were also easing.
The U.S. stock market's so-called fear gauge, the VIX
.VIX , was at its lowest in a month and the U.S. dollar was
softer against other major currencies =USD like the euro which
stood up at $1.0880. EUR=EBS /FRX .
MARKETS BUILD ON FEDROCK
Markets are looking for any forward guidance from the U.S.
Federal Reserve, which meets later on Tuesday and is due to
issue a statement on Wednesday. The European Central Bank then
meets on Thursday.
The Fed has led the global monetary policy response to the
coronavirus pandemic by cutting interest rates to zero and
aggressively buying bonds and corporate credit - a programme it
extended overnight to include municipal debt of smaller U.S.
cities. Analysts said it was unlikely that the Fed would make
further major policy moves, given the scope and depth of recent
action to counter the economic damage caused by COVID-19.
Sweden's central bank had opted not to take its interest
rates back into negative territory on Tuesday, sending its
currency up 0.5% and to its highest in over a month. EURSEK=D3
"The major central banks are at comparatively expansionary
levels. All of them have beefed up asset purchases as much as
they could. All of them are close to or even at the minimum
lower interest rate bound," wrote Thu Lan Nguyen, an analyst at
Commerzbank.
"They are likely to remain there for the foreseeable future,
which would point towards relatively stable exchange rates."
The ECB has had less room to manoeuvre on rates and
announced an enormous bond-buying program. Still, bickering and
indecision over a eurozone rescue package has some in the market
expecting deeper action still, perhaps as soon as Thursday.
That has seen the euro left behind as expectations for an
economic recovery from the pandemic has pressured the U.S.
dollar and driven a rally in riskier currencies such as the
Australian dollar.
The Aussie dollar AUD=D3 briefly spluttered as oil went
wacky again but regained its poise to add to its near 20% bounce
from a 17-year low struck last month.
Elsewhere the pound GBP= rose 0.6% to $1.25, having
earlier been pressured after Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned
it was too dangerous to relax a strict lockdown in Britain.
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Global assets http://tmsnrt.rs/2jvdmXl
Global currencies vs. dollar http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
Global bonds dashboard (DO NOT USE UNTIL UPDATE FOUND) http://tmsnrt.rs/2fPTds0
Emerging markets http://tmsnrt.rs/2ihRugV
MSCI All Country Wolrd Index Market Cap http://tmsnrt.rs/2EmTD6j
Stocks and oil IMAGE https://tmsnrt.rs/2zECIeH
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