GLOBAL MARKETS-Global equities rise on strong earnings, oil gains

(Adds close of U.S. markets)
* MSCI's all-country world index gains 0.5%
* Silver rebounds, Brent crude prices at 11-month high

By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Global equities rose on
Wednesday, lifted by strong results from Alphabet Inc and upbeat
earnings in Europe, while oil prices advanced almost 2% to their
highest in nearly a year after data showed U.S. crude stockpiles
fell to their lowest since March.
Silver rebounded after retreating from a near eight-year
peak reached with the help of a social media-inspired buying
frenzy. Silver XAG= rose 0.92% to $26.86 an ounce on hopes
further government stimulus would help boost industrial demand.
GOL/
Videogame retailer GameStop Corp GME.N rose 2.68% to
$92.41, clawing back a little ground after plunging from a peak
of $483 last week. The retail investors' push-back on the shorting by hedge
funds of GameStop and other stocks has caused investors to
reposition their portfolios, said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment
strategist at Inverness Counsel in New York.
"There was a lot of selling last week and then a lot of
buying since then," Ghriskey said. "We are in earnings season
and that means volatility in individual securities, both on the
positive side and negative side," he said.
But hopes of more U.S. stimulus and a stronger growth
outlook has led to an upward revision of corporate earnings. The
earnings growth rate for the fourth quarter has increased by
11.3 percentage points since Jan. 1, data from Refinitiv shows.
MSCI's benchmark for global equity markets .MIWD00000PUS
rose 0.33% to 663.15, less than 1 percentage points from an
all-time high hit two weeks ago, while Europe's broad
FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 rose 0.31% for a third straight
day of gains.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose
0.12%, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.10% and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC dropped 0.02%.
Alphabet GOOGL.O , parent of Google, rose 7.28% to
$2,058.88 following strong quarterly results from lockdowns that
drove advertisers online and helped push the communication
services index .SPLRCL to an all-time high. Novo Nordisk NOVOb.CO , Siemens AG SIEGn.DE and Publicis
Groupe SA PUBP.PA rose after upbeat results in Europe. Daimler
DAIGn.DE was the top boost to the pan-European STOXX 600 index
.STOXX after unveiling plans to spin-off its trucks business.
Germany's DAX .GDAXI index rose 0.7% to hit its highest in
two weeks.
The prospect of Mario Draghi, the former European Central
Bank chief, becoming prime minister in Italy added to the cheer
in Europe.
The dollar's rebound slowed, with the euro and Japanese yen
holding near widely watched levels as foreign exchange markets
looked for clues to their next move, possibly from the U.S. jobs
report on Friday.
The euro EUR=EBS hovered just above a two-month low of
$1.20 as the yen JPY=D3 spent a second day trading near 105.
The dollar index =USD rose 0.035%, with the euro EUR=
down 0.09% to $1.2031.
The Japanese yen JPY= weakened 0.03% versus the greenback
at 105.02 per dollar.
U.S. crude oil stockpiles USOILC=ECI fell last week to
475.7 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration
said, their lowest since March. Refiner utilization rates
USOIRU=ECI , meanwhile, rose by 0.6 percentage points.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 rose $1.00 to settle at $58.46 a
barrel, while U.S. crude futures CLc1 settled up 93 cents at
$55.69 a barrel.
U.S. gold futures GCv1 settled up 0.1% at $1,835.10 an
ounce.
The 10-year U.S. Treasury US10YT=RR note rose about 3
basis points to 1.134%.

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Global assets http://tmsnrt.rs/2jvdmXl
Global currencies vs. dollar http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
MSCI All Country World Index Market Cap http://tmsnrt.rs/2EmTD6j
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