* World stocks rise for third straight session
* Bonds, dollar pressured as risk appetite improves
* U.S. crude above $60, copper hits one-month high
* Wall Street set to open higher
(Updates throughout, adds Wall Street outlook)
By Ian Chua
LONDON, July 15 (Reuters) - Global stocks powered to their
highest level in nearly two weeks on Wednesday after blockbuster
results from major firms including tech bellwether Intel Corp
<INTC.O> boosted appetite for riskier assets.
Wall Street looked set to open higher, particularly the
tech-heavy Nasdaq <>, with futures <NDc1> rising nearly 2
percent. Intel shares surged 7.8 percent in Frankfurt <INTC.F>.
Goldman Sachs <GS.N> and Intel posted solid results on
Tuesday while Johnson & Johnson <JNJ.N> beat analysts' forecasts
with a 5 percent fall in second-quarter earnings, getting the
U.S. earnings season off to a bright start.
That also helped lift U.S. crude oil <CLc1> above $60 a
barrel and drive copper <MCU3=LX> to a one-month high of $5,219
a tonne, but the dollar and less risky assets such as government
bonds took a beating.
Investors and policymakers are anxiously looking for signs
of a pick up in U.S. demand, which is crucial to a solid global
recovery.
World stocks as measured by MSCI <.MIWD00000PUS> rose 1.1
percent to 242.49, having earlier touched 242.62 -- a level last
seen on July 2 -- and the emerging markets sector index
<.MSCIEF> jumped more than 2 percent to one-week highs.
Markets are now up more than 6 percent for the year, but
have struggled to break out of a fairly tight range since
mid-June.
In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top regional shares
was up 1.6 percent, rising for a third day running. London's
FTSE 100 index <> also advanced 1.6 percent.
Even data showing the British unemployment rate hitting 7.6
percent in the three months to May -- the highest since January
1997 -- failed to dampen optimism among equity players.
[]
"The market is prepared to shake off weak economic data,
preferring to focus on consensus-breaking results and upbeat
outlooks from corporates," said Henk Potts, equity strategist at
Barclays Stockbrokers.
"There are some longer-term factors to take into account,
but certainly in the short term the direction of the markets
will be determined by the percentage of companies that either
meet or exceed analysts' expectations."
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei average <> edged up 0.1
percent, but shares elsewhere in the region <.MIAPJ0000PUS>
rallied 2.9 percent.
DOLLAR/BONDS PRESSURED
The dollar fell to a two-week low against a basket of
currencies as investors sought higher-yielding units such as the
Australian dollar.
The yen also struggled while the euro gained, boosted by
higher European shares. The euro brushed off a 0.1 percent
annual fall in euro zone inflation, which confirmed that price
risks in the region are nil at the moment.
The dollar index <.DXY> slipped 0.7 percent, while the euro
<EUR=> gained 0.7 percent to $1.4070. Against the dollar, the
Australian currency <AUD=D4> rose 0.6 percent to $0.7995.
"The market may be expecting more pleasant surprises rather
than unpleasant surprises from earnings," said Steve Barrow,
head of G10 currency research at Standard Bank in London.
Against the backdrop of better risk appetite, investors gave
lower risk government bonds a wide berth, sending the euro
zone's benchmark yield <EU10YT=RR> up to a two-week high just
above 3.35 percent. Yields trade inversely to bond prices.
U.S. Treasury prices resumed their decline, pushing the
10-year yield <US10YT=RR> to a one-week high around 3.49
percent.
(Additional reporting by Atul Prakash and Tamawa Desai; Editing
by Patrick Graham)
