GLOBAL MARKETS-Equities climb on oil price rebound, stimulus hopes

(Updates through midday U.S. trading)
By David Randall and David Henry
NEW YORK, April 23 (Reuters) - World stock markets climbed
on Thursday as investors weighed a rebound in oil prices and
prospects for further government stimulus against stark economic
data showing the toll of the coronavirus pandemic.
Investors tilted toward emerging markets from safe-haven
assets like the dollar and government bonds.
Major U.S. and European stock indexes were up more than 1%
in midday trading in New York on news U.S. jobless claims fell
to 4.4 million, a decline from 5.2 million the week before, but
still about 200,000 more than expected. A record 26 million
Americans have sought unemployment benefits over the last five
weeks. "The market is ignoring all the weak data so far, it's
priced in," said Priya Misra, head of global rates strategy for
TD Securities.
"We have moved ahead from the second quarter being awful,"
Misra said, adding that market participants were turning towards
the outlook for the third and fourth quarters.
Oil rose, spurred by rising tensions in the Middle East and
production cuts by nations aimed at stopping oversupply that
caused record plunges early this week.
U.S. crude CLc1 recently rose 29.61% to $17.86 per barrel
and Brent LCOc1 was at $22.69, up 11.39% on the day.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 332.47 points,
or 1.42%, to 23,808.29, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 37.14 points,
or 1.33%, to 2,836.45 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
115.25 points, or 1.36%, to 8,610.63.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX rose 1.01% and
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS gained
1.18%.
The dollar index =USD , tracking the unit against six major
peers, slipped 0.328%. Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes
US10YT=RR were up and down in modest swings. The notes last
rose 2/32 in price to yield 0.6125%, from 0.619% late on
Wednesday.
Riskier emerging market stocks rose 0.62% and MSCI's
broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS closed 0.51% higher, while Japan's Nikkei
.N225 rose 1.52%.
Investors were looking hopefully toward a meeting of
European Union leaders who were considering their first step
towards the joint financing of an economic recovery after the
coronavirus pandemic. "(The) EU Council meeting will be closely watched to see how
quickly EU policy-makers will move towards area-wide fiscal
risk-sharing," said George Cole, an economist at Goldman Sachs.
"We expect the discussions to fall short of a full commitment to
mutualize risks from the COVID-19 shock."
The importance of the meeting was underlined by news that a
gauge of economic health, the IHS Markit's Flash Composite
Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the European Union, sank to
its lowest reading since the survey began in mid-1998. In the
UK, PMIs fell to a new record low in March - and far below even
the weakest forecast in a Reuters poll of economists.
An internal EU note showed the bloc's commission was
considering a plan worth 2 trillion euros ($2.2 trillion) to
tackle a deep recession.
The EU meeting came as the U.S. Congress appeared to be on
course to approve nearly $500 billion more in coronavirus aid,
taking the world's biggest economy's overall stimulus packages
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Global assets http://tmsnrt.rs/2jvdmXl
Global currencies vs. dollar http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
Emerging markets http://tmsnrt.rs/2ihRugV
MSCI All Country Wolrd Index Market Cap http://tmsnrt.rs/2EmTD6j
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