World shares advance as dollar loses steam

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK (Reuters) - World shares inched higher on Wednesday as a rebound in technology shares lifted Wall Street, while the dollar relinquished early gains to trade lower after a report suggested a deal to prevent a U.S. government shutdown could be at risk.

In the U.S. equity market, tech shares led the advance, including IBM , which surged 2.9 percent to $168.66 after Barclays upgraded the stock two notches to "overweight" ahead of its quarterly results on Thursday. The S&P technology sector gained 1.22 percent.

Notable laggards were Goldman Sachs , down 2.28 percent and Bank of America , off 0.45 percent, after their quarterly results included charges related to the new federal tax law.

 

U.S. corporate earnings are expected to be solid, with growth for the quarter forecast at 12.2 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data through Wednesday morning.

A tweet by a Politico reporter that U.S. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said he would not vote for a Republican "continuing resolution" stopgap bill to fund the government temporarily helped send the dollar lower.

"(A shutdown) is something, that even though it is in the headlines, people aren't taking it seriously enough," said Peter Costa, President at Empire Executions Inc in New York.

The greenback had initially moved higher versus a basket of currencies in the wake of a stronger-than-forecast data on domestic industrial output in December that supported the notion of a steady U.S. economic expansion.

The softness in the dollar will serve to support equity prices, according to Costa, as it hovers at three-year lows.

"A lot of these guys have a huge multinational presence so it is playing into it and definitely will help them, you probably will see the dollar stay around this range for quite some time."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> rose 258.7 points, or 1 percent, to 26,051.56, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 24.38 points, or 0.88 percent, to 2,800.8 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 66.69 points, or 0.92 percent, to 7,290.38.

The U.S. economy and inflation expanded at a modest-to-moderate pace from late November through the end of 2017, while wages continued to push higher, the Federal Reserve said.

Equities in Europe closed lower, as declines in luxury fashion brand Burberry and educational publishing company Pearson weighed, following sales and earnings updates.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index <.FTEU3> lost 0.24 percent and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe <.MIWD00000PUS> gained 0.11 percent.

The dollar index <.DXY> fell 0.07 percent, with the euro > up 0.04 percent to $1.2264.

Oil prices edged higher ahead of the release of U.S. petroleum data that was expected to show a ninth straight weekly drawdown in crude inventories.

U.S. crude rose 0.41 percent to $63.99 per barrel and Brent was last at $69.42, up 0.39 percent on the day.

World shares have rallied at the start of 2018 on optimism for continued strong global growth and improving corporate earnings, with many analysts expecting the bull run in equities to lengthen.

Benchmark 10-year notes > last fell 6/32 in price to yield 2.5647 percent, from 2.544 percent late on Tuesday.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum and Nick Zieminski)