GLOBAL MARKETS-US rate cut view propels stocks higher

                                
 (Adds quotes, updates prices, changes dateline and byline)
                                
 By Lynn Adler
                                
 NEW YORK, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Global stocks rose on
Wednesday on investors' optimism that a U.S. Federal Reserve
policy move will help lift the U.S. economy, though bond prices
eased on ideas that stronger data will make the Fed less
aggresive.
                                
 The dollar rose, along with stocks, after reports on
durable goods orders and consumer confidence came in
surprisingly strong, though the figures created jitters in the
bond market.
                                
  In advance of the Fed meeting, traders were fairly evenly
split as to whether the central bank would cut benchmark U.S.
rates by 1/2-percentage point or 1/4 point in its two-day
policy meeting that ends on Wednesday.
                                
 The Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> rose initially on
hopes of another deep cut after last week's aggressive
3/4-point rate cut in an emergency action from the Fed.
                                
 European stocks ended higher on the U.S. rate cut
expectations and the view that the durable goods report did not
point to a recession. To read more about the durable goods
reading, see [ID:nN29569811].
                                
 The FTSEurofirst 300 index <.FTEU3> of top European shares
rose 1.5 percent, extending its rebound from last week's
two-year lows.
                                
 Shares of French bank Societe Generale <SOGN.PA>, slammed
last week after a massive loss it blamed on a rogue trader,
soared nearly 11 percent on market talk that rival bank BNP
Paribas <BNPP.PA> could initiate a takeover bid.
                                
 The MSCI main world equity index <.MIWD00000PUS> rose 1.02
percent, having hit its lowest since October 2006 last week.
                                
 Some traders were already looking beyond the Fed meeting to
the report of U.S. nonfarm payrolls for January,  reported by
the Labor Department on Friday.
                                
 "If we get a decent January jobs report, with upward
revisions to December, I think the recession and end-of the
world scenario gets shoved into an open elevator shaft," said
Michael Darda, chief economist at MKM Partners LLC in
Greenwich, Connecticut.
                                
 The economic data also underpinned the dollar versus the
euro and yen, but many investors were on the sidelines before
the Fed meeting's conclusion. Read more at [ID:nN29592878].
                                
 Easier monetary policy helps riskier assets such as stocks
but lowers the premium the dollar offers, making it less
attractive to hold the U.S. currency. A lower dollar in turn
makes it cheaper to buy gold.
                                
 U.S. gold and platinum futures fell on Tuesday after
setting record highs overnight, as investors locked in profits
before the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision.
                                
 Treasury bond prices sank as stocks rose and on signs the
U.S. economy may not be as dire as previously predicted.
Benchmark 10-year notes <US10YT=RR> fell 29/32 in price,
lifting the yield to 3.69 percent from 3.58 percent late
Monday. Bond yields move inversely to price.
                                
 Although the size of the anticipated U.S. rate cut may now
be clouded, there is still consensus that the rates will drop.
                                
 "Certainly, it is not going to prevent the Fed from cutting
rates tomorrow," Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James
& Associates in St. Petersberg, Florida, said after the durable
goods report.
                                
 BEARS LINGER
                                
 The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday cut its forecast
for world growth this year in the face of continued stress in
global credit markets and warned that economic activity could
slow even further.
                                
 "The overall balance of risks to the global growth outlook
is still tilted to the downside," the IMF said in an update to
its semiannual World Economic Outlook released on October. Read
more at [ID:nN29581594].
                                
 Despite the MSCI's bounce, the index has fallen around 14
percent since hitting all-time highs in November, raising
concerns that world stocks are in a bearish downward trend.
                                
 "If it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, it
probably is a duck. And I've got to say it feels very much like
a bear market," said Edward Menashy, economist and strategist
at Charles Stanley in London. "There's apathy about the place.
There's a sense of helplessness and despair,"
                                
 (Additional reporting by Natsuko Waki in London, Caroline
Valetkevitch and Pedro Nicolaci da Costa in New York, Alister
Bull and Glenn Somerville in Washington, D.C. Editing by
Richard Satran)