* Stocks hit as Middle East unrest feared
* Oil gets boost, Treasuries and gold too
(Adds U.S. trading; dateline previously London)
By Al Yoon
NEW YORK, Jan 28 (Reuters) - The dollar and U.S. Treasuries
rose on Friday as concerns that protests in Egypt will
intensify and spread across the Middle East drove investors to
seek safer assets.
Stocks fell around the world and crude oil prices rose.
President Hosni Mubarak imposed curfews across Egypt as
media coverage of growing unrest further unsettled global
financial markets where investors had been accelerating moves
into riskier assets.
"The market is a little sensitive when people take to the
streets as it reminds them of the riots in Greece a year ago,
and that did lead to a flight into the safety of U.S.
Treasuries," said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at
Bank of Tokyo/Mitsubishi UFJ in New York.
The price of gold also rose on the sudden shift in market
sentiment, and the Swiss franc gained along with the dollar as
investors turned to currencies considered safe-havens.
"If the Mubarak government falls, the next few days could
see some heavy U.S. dollar and Swiss Franc safe-haven buying,"
said Joseph Trevisani, chief market analyst at FX Solutions in
Saddle River, New Jersey.
On Wall Street, shares fell from 29-month highs as
disappointing results by high-profile companies including
Amazon and Ford added to the negative sentiment from the
turmoil in Egypt.
Energy stocks declined despite a more than 2 percent surge
in oil prices <CLc1>, as uncertainty over the weekend
developments in Egypt and anemic growth in Chevron's <CVX.N>
oil reserves kept investors jittery.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> was down 66.94
points, or 0.56 percent, at 11,922.89. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index <.SPX> was down 11.25 points, or 0.87 percent, at
1,288.29. The Nasdaq Composite Index <> was down 39.72
points, or 1.44 percent, at 2,715.56.
"The market response to earnings in Microsoft, Amazon and
Ford is disappointing," said Peter Boockvar, equity strategist
at Miller Tabak & Co in New York. "Then you throw in Egyptian
riots possibly spreading... we're going into a weekend where
anything is possible in Egypt," he said.
In commodities, U.S. light sweet crude oil <CLc1> rose
$2.43, or 2.84 percent, to $88.07 per barrel, and spot gold
prices <XAU=> rose $16.18, or 1.23 percent, to $1327.20.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields dropped 0.04
percentage point to 3.35 percent.
The political unrest overshadowed economic data in the U.S.
that showed the nation's recovery was on track.
Though growth fell short of expectation, U.S. gross
domestic product data for the final quarter of 2010 showed the
biggest gain in consumer spending in more than four years with
strong exports offering the clearest signals yet that a
sustainable recovery is under way, aided by U.S. Federal
Reserve monetary policy.
But the market was buffeted as Ford Motor Co <F.N> tumbled
after reporting a steep drop in its quarterly profit after a
charge for debt payments. Ford shares fell nearly 11 percent
and rival automaker General Motors Co <GM.N> lost 4.6 percent.
"Ford results were pretty ugly," said James Dailey,
portfolio manager of TEAM Asset Strategy Fund in Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania. Ford shares had risen almost 12 percent from the
start of January to the Thursday close.
Amazon.com Inc's <AMZN.O> revenues missed expectations late
Thursday. Shares of the online retailer fell 7.6 percent.
In Europe, the benchmark FTSEurofirst 300 index <> of
leading European shares fell 0.8 percent, led by mining stocks.
Asia's Japan's Nikkei average <> ended down 1.1 percent --
still weighed by the sovereign debt rating downgrade -- while
the MSCI world equity index <.MIWD00000PUS> dropped 1 percent.
Emerging market stocks <.MSCIEF> fared worse, falling 1.3
percent.
In currencies, the dollar was up against a basket of major
trading-partner currencies, with the U.S. Dollar Index <.DXY>
up 0.46 percent at 78.081. The euro <EUR=> was down 0.72
percent at $1.3627.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar <JPY=> was down 0.86
percent at 82.15 from a previous session close of 82.860.
(Editing by Leslie Adler)
