GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks rise, U.S. yields slip with Fed meeting on tap

* MSCI world shares index gain slightly
* Travel, airline shares gain in Europe, US
* 10-yr U.S. bond yields pull back from 13-month peak
* U.S. dollar rises as caution reigns ahead of Fed

(Updates with latest prices)
By Lewis Krauskopf
NEW YORK, March 15 (Reuters) - World stock markets rose on
Monday and benchmark U.S. bond yields slipped from 13-month
highs as investors looked to the U.S. central bank's meeting
later in the week.
Wall Street's main indexes rallied in late afternoon trade
after the benchmark S&P 500 closed at another record high, while
European shares were flat after rising to pre-pandemic levels,
with travel shares gaining in both regions.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS
gained 0.37%.
The Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting ending on
Wednesday is in focus with rising bond yields and concerns over
a pickup in inflation. Fed policymakers are expected this week
to forecast that the U.S. economy will grow in 2021 at the
fastest rate in decades. "I think there is still a bias toward accelerating economic
growth," said David Joy, chief market strategist at Ameriprise
Financial.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose
174.82 points, or 0.53%, to 32,953.46, the S&P 500 .SPX gained
25.6 points, or 0.65%, to 3,968.94 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC added 139.84 points, or 1.05%, to 13,459.71.
Airline shares .SPCOMAIR rose as the companies pointed to
concrete signs of an industry recovery as a slowing COVID-19
pandemic helps leisure bookings. Germany, France and Italy said they would hit pause on
AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) AZN.L COVID-19 shots after several countries
reported possible serious side-effects, throwing Europe's
already struggling vaccination campaign into disarray.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX was flat, after
touching its highest level since February 2020, with travel
stocks .SXTP gaining. The $1.9 trillion stimulus President Joe Biden signed into
law last week, expected improving economic data and the rollout
of COVID-19 vaccinations supported gains, even as investors were
attuned to the outlook for monetary policy.
Longer-term U.S. Treasury yields fell as the market looked
ahead to the Fed meeting and the latest government debt
auctions. The benchmark 10-year yield US10YT=RR , which reached
1.642% on Friday, was last down 2.8 basis points at 1.6073%.
Rising inflation expectations could prompt the Federal Open
Market Committee to signal it will start raising rates sooner
than expected.
"Following the fiscal stimulus packages it is inevitable
that Fed GDP forecasts will be revised up, and some FOMC members
might think rates will have to move higher sooner than they
anticipated last December," economists at ANZ said.
In currencies trading, the dollar gained as traders cut
their bearish bets on the greenback to four-month lows amid the
recent rise in U.S. Treasury yields. The dollar index =USD rose 0.109%, with the euro EUR=
down 0.18% to $1.1933.
Oil prices slipped, pulling back from earlier gains
bolstered by strong Chinese economic news, because of concerns
about potential U.S. tax increases to pay for infrastructure
spending. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 for April settled
at $65.39 a barrel, down 22 cents. Brent crude futures LCOc1
for May settled at $68.88 a barrel, losing 34 cents.

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