Bond yield rise continues, global stocks off early highs

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A rally in major world stock markets stalled on Thursday as investors reassessed positions after Tuesday's U.S. presidential election, while U.S. bond yields continued to climb on fears of a revival in inflation resulting from potential expansionary fiscal policy under President-elect Donald Trump.

Investors have quickly shifted to a focus on Trump's priorities, including tax cuts, an increase in defense and infrastructure spending, along with bank deregulation.

Stocks in Europe and the U.S. reversed course and turned negative, with utilities down more than 4 percent in Europe. Wall Street was pulled lower by a drop in the technology sector, which was on track for its biggest decline since June 24.

"In a higher rate environment, growth stock valuations aren't what they were in a lower rate environment, that's just plain and simple," said Stephen Massocca, chief investment officer, Wedbush Equity Management LLC in San Francisco.

Banking shares in the U.S. continued to rally and were up more than 2 percent on the session, and more than 9 percent over the past four sessions.

Stocks on Wall Street had rallied on Wednesday following Trump's stunning win, with companies expected to benefit from his reflationary policies seeing the biggest climb, while bond proxy sectors like utilities and real estate slumped.

"I would start looking to put some money to work in some of these names, especially the ones with nine, ten percent dividend yields," said Massocca.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 145.15 points, or 0.78 percent, to 18,734.84, the S&P 500 lost 0.34 points, or 0.02 percent, to 2,162.92 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 57.32 points, or 1.09 percent, to 5,193.75.

The benchmark S&P index retreated after rising as much as 0.9 percent earlier in the session.

Europe's index of leading 300 shares was down 0.3 percent after earlier touching a two-week high.

MSCI's all-country world index edged up 0.05 percent after rising as much as 0.9 percent.

Bond yields continued their ascent, amid the expectation interest rates will rise under increased spending. Benchmark 10-year notes were last down 7/32 in price, yielding 2.087 percent, up from 2.064 percent late on Wednesday. The yields rose as high as 2.125 percent, the highest since January.

The dollar also continued to strengthen and was last up 0.46 percent at 98.959 against a basket of major currencies. The greenback was on track for its fourth session of gains.

The strength in the dollar weighed on gold which fell 1 percent to $1,264.86 per ounce, on track for its third decline in four days. The dollar rise also was a drag on oil prices, with both Brent and U.S. crude down more than 1 percent.

But copper touched a 16-month high of $5,714 a tonne and was last up 3.7 percent at $5611.50 on expectations of a jump in infrastructure spending under a Trump presidency.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)