GLOBAL MARKETS - Equity markets ease after four-week rally Fed meeting eyed

Wall Street dips after four-week S & P 500 rally

* Oil falls on supply glut concerns

* Dollar falls after US housing data (Updates with oil settlement prices, close of US markets)

Global equity markets slipped on Monday, pausing after a four-week rally ahead of policy announcements from central banks in the United States and Japan later in the week, while the dollar weakened in the wake of soft US housing data.

Stock markets rallied last week on the potential that Japan' s already-massive stimulus would be further increased after China cut interest rates last week and the European Central Bank indicated it may add to its asset purchase program in December.

But comments Monday by a key economic adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who said the Bank of Japan did not need to boost its monetary stimulus this week, tamped down those expectations somewhat.

The US Federal Reserve, meanwhile, will issue a policy statement at the conclusion of a two-day meeting on Wednesday. It is increasingly expected to hold off its first rate hike in nearly a decade until next year.

US stocks dipped, with the PHLX housing index down 0.4 percent after the Commerce Department said new US single-family home sales fell to near a one-year low in September after two straight months of gains.

" I kind of expected it to be stuck in neutral," said Randy Frederick, managing director of trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas.

" People are just sitting tight waiting for the Fed meeting, although frankly it is going to be a non-event. That does not mean people will not get a little concerned about it."

FOUR-WEEK RALLY

After a gain of more than 7 percent over the past four weeks, MSCI' s all-country world index of the equity performance of 46 countries shed 0.1 percent, while the pan-regional FTSEurofirst 300 index, tracking Europe' s 300 largest companies, closed down 0.4 percent .

Shares in European markets were mostly lower, but Germany' s DAX managed a modest 0.06 percent gain after a business sentiment survey showed that morale had fallen by less than expected in October.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 23.65 points, or 0.13 percent, to 17,623.05, the S & P 500 lost 3.97 points, or 0.19 percent, to 2,071.18 and the Nasdaq Composite added 2.84 points, or 0.06 percent, to 5,034.70.

About 170 companies in the benchmark S & P 500 index are expected to report earnings this week, including Apple Inc on Tuesday.

Thomson Reuters data shows third-quarter earnings are expected to decrease 2.8 percent from a year ago, a slight improvement from the 4.2 percent decline expected at the beginning of the month.

The dollar fell from a 2-1 / 2 month high and was off 0.3 percent to 96.837 against a basket of major currencies on lower US bond yields and the US new-home sales data.

Crude oil prices fell, as US crude settled down 1.4 percent to $ 43.98 and Brent settled 0.9 percent lower to $ 47.54 a barrel on worries that the oversupply in oil products would swell from unseasonably warm weather and the waning maintenance cycle for US refineries.

US natural gas futures briefly fell 10 percent to a fresh three-year low as the market focused on forecasts for continued warm weather at the start of the winter heating season.

Prices on 10-year Treasuries were up 8/32 to yield 2.0564 percent, down from two-week highs.

 

 

Techs lead Wall St. higher S& P 500 erases 2015 loss

A tech share rally drove US stocks up sharply for a second day on Friday as earnings from companies including Microsoft beat analysts' expectations, while healthcare shares rebounded from recent losses.

The gains left the S & P 500 in positive territory for the year and above its 200-day moving average for the first time since Aug. 19.

An unexpected rate cut in China added to the positive tone for US stocks, which also registered gains for the week.

Microsoft shares (MSFT.O) rose 10.1 percent to $ 52.87, their highest in 15 years, after adjusted revenue beat expectations for the ninth quarter in a row.

Microsoft gave the biggest boost to the three indexes, accounting for nearly a fifth of the Dow' s gain and leading a strong rally in technology stocks. The S & P technology sector .SPLRCT jumped 3.0 percent, leading gains among major sectors.

Alphabet (GOOGL.O), Google' s new holding company, and Amazon (AMZN.O) soared to record intraday highs after results beat expectations. Alphabet ended up 5.6 percent at $ 719.33, while Amazon rose 6.2 percent to $ 599.03.

Facebook Inc. (FB.O) and Twitter (TWTR.N) also jumped, with Facebook rising above $ 100 for the first time.

" It' s being driven by the good earnings" from a number of companies, said Giri Cherukuri, head trader at OakBrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois. That may change the view on earnings " as people sit back and evaluate."

" Companies with big international exposure have a big drag due to forex, but looking past that, companies are doing well."

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 157.54 points, or 0.9 percent, to 17,646.7, the S & P 500 .SPX gained 22.64 points, or 1.1 percent, to 2,075.15 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 111.81 points, or 2.27 percent, to 5,031.86.

For the week, the Dow rose 2.5 percent, the S & P 500 gained 2.1 percent and the Nasdaq jumped 3 percent.

The S & P 500 is now up 0.8 percent for the year so far and up 7.1 percent for October.

Analyst sentiment on overall third-quarter earnings has improved following the string of strong results from blue chips.

S & P 500 earnings for the period are now expected to have declined a more modest 2.8 percent, compared with a decline of 4.9 percent forecast at the start of the reporting season, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Among other gainers, Procter & Gamble (PG.N) rose 2.9 percent to $ 77.03 after its profit beat estimates.

Not all of the day' s earnings news was upbeat, though.

Shares of Whirlpool Corp (WHR.N) dropped 8.7 percent to $ 145.90 after executives said currency would subtract $ 2.5 billion from the appliance maker' s annual revenue.

Whirlpool lowered its 2015 expectations even as it posted higher-than-expected third-quarter earnings.

Overseas, China' s central bank cut interest rates for the sixth time since November in another attempt to jumpstart a slowing economy.

NYSE advancers outnumbered decliners 1,806 to 1,252, for a 1.44-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq, 1,872 issues rose and 956 fell, for a 1.96-to-1 ratio favoring advancers.

The S & P 500 posted 54 new 52-week highs and 14 lows the Nasdaq recorded 133 new highs and 65 lows.

About 7.6 billion shares changed hands on US exchanges, above the 7.3 billion daily average for the past 20 trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data.