REFILE-GLOBAL MARKETS-World stocks inch up on increasing bets on faster economic recovery

(adds employer, location of economist quoted in para 7)
* S&P500 futures edge higher, hover near record high
* Long-term U.S. bond yields near 13-month peak
* Investors bets on earlier economic normalisation
* Some investors see Fed revising up economic, rates
forecasts
* Global asset performance http://tmsnrt.rs/2yaDPgn

By Hideyuki Sano
TOKYO, March 15 (Reuters) - Global stock prices inched
higher while U.S. bond yields hovered near a 13-month peak on
Monday as investors bet U.S. economic growth will accelerate
after the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill President Joe Biden signed
into law last week.
A rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations in the United States and
some other countries stoked a bullish mood on risk assets even
as investors become wary of key central bank policy meets later
in the week, including the U.S. Federal Reserve's.
"The U.S. is now vaccinating more three million people a
day, with President Biden now saying all adults will be able to
get a shot by May 1. It could soon achieve a herd immunity and
an economic normalisation," said Norihiro Fujito, chief
investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley
Securities.
U.S. S&P500 futures ESc1 rose 0.2% in early Asian trade,
trading just below a record high level touched last week, while
Japan's Nikkei .N225 ticked up 0.3%.
Mainland Chinese shares buckled the trend to trade lower
.SSEC despite data showing a quickening in industrial output
and a rise in retail sales. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.2%, with Hong Kong .HSI leading the
gains.
"Most market participants and policy-makers have been
surprised by the speed of the recovery. On our estimates, the
U.S. economy will reach pre-COVID-19 output levels by the
current quarter," said Chetan Ahya, global head of economics at
Morgan Stanley in New York, in a note.
"Fiscal policy is doing much more than fill the output hole.
Transfers to households have already exceeded the income lost in
the recession. As reopening gathers pace, the labour market is
poised for a sharp rebound."
The U.S. House of Representatives gave final approval last
week to the COVID-19 relief bill, giving Biden his first major
victory in office. Some investors speculate part of $1,400 direct payments to
households could find its way to stock markets, as seemed to be
the case with similar direct payments made last year for
coronavirus relief.
Investors also suspect the $1.9 trillion package, which
amounts to more than 8% of the country's GDP, could stoke
inflation - to the detriment of bonds, especially when their
yields are so low.
Rising inflation expectations could prompt the Federal
Reserve to signal it will start raising rates sooner when it
announces its latest economic projections at the end of Federal
Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on Wednesday.
"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," wrote economists at ANZ.
The 10-year U.S. Treasuries yield stood at 1.628%
US10YT=RR , having risen to as high as 1.642% on Friday, a high
last seen in February last year.
On top of continued U.S. economic optimism and increased
debt supply expectations after the stimulus, uncertainties about
whether the Fed will extend an emergency regulatory easing in
the so-called "supplementary leverage ratio" (SLR) added to the
sense of unease. Higher U.S. bond yields saw the dollar rising against other
major currencies.
The euro slipped to $1.1947 EUR= from last week's high of
$1.1990 while the dollar held firm at 109.12 yen, near
nine-month high of 109.235 set last Tuesday.
The British pound slipped 0.25% to $1.3934 GBP=D4 .
Bitcoin BTC=BTSP briefly slipped to $58,742, off a record
high of $61,781 hit on Saturday, after Reuters reported a senior
Indian government official said Delhi will propose a law banning
cryptocurrencies, fining anyone in the country trading or even
holding such digital assets. Oil prices were supported by production cuts by major oil
producers and optimism about a demand recovery as the global
economy recovers from the pandemic-induced recession.
U.S. crude futures traded at $66.23 per barrel CLc1 , up
0.9% on the day.

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Global asset performance http://tmsnrt.rs/2yaDPgn
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