(Fixes graphic link)
* Wall Street wavers as growth fears offset strong results
* Bonds rise with eye on Fed meeting, economic growth
* Dollar edges higher vs euro with Fed meeting eyed
(Updates prices)
By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, April 25 (Reuters) - A sell-off in silver on
Monday helped the U.S. dollar to rebound and oil prices to fall
while Wall Street fell on discouraging corporate forecasts.
Trading in many markets was thin, with investors uncertain
whether the U.S. Federal Reserve will signal a change in its
easy monetary policy after a two-day meeting of policymakers
that concludes on Wednesday.
Traders fear the dollar could test its all-time low against
a basket of currencies this week if the Fed keeps monetary
policy loose. The greenback turned higher after commodity
prices, led by silver, fell. For details see []
Oil turned lower when silver curtailed a sharp rally and
when there was no follow-through after oil prices hit their
highest since September 2008. []
"Silver's sell-off spilled over to crude markets and
traders took profits," said Dan Flynn, analyst at PFGBest
Research in Chicago.
Spot silver prices dropped nearly 2 percent, affected by
technical factors, after a failure to take out a record price
set in 1980 triggered a bout of heavy selling. []
Spot silver <XAG=> fell 0.8 percent to $46.29 an ounce, off
a session high of $49.31. U.S. silver futures <SIK1> had jumped
more than 8 percent to a intraday high of $49.82 an ounce,
short of the all-time peak of $50.35 set Jan. 18, 1980.
Spot gold <XAU=> rose 0.3 percent to $1,511.40 per ounce it
hit a record high of $1,518.10 an ounce.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^For a graphic on silver and gold
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^http://r.reuters.com/xup29r >
U.S. stocks were flat to lower, just below three-year
highs, which had been reached after strong first-quarter
earnings.
Stocks were lower on signs some corporate outlooks were
being strained by concerns over higher raw material costs,
including consumer products maker Kimberly-Clark Corp.
[].
The Dow Jones industrial average <> was down 36.03
points, or 0.29 percent, at 12,469.96. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index <.SPX> was down 3.01 points, or 0.23 percent, at
1,334.37. The Nasdaq Composite Index <> was up 0.08 points
at 2,820.24.
Although oil prices turned lower in choppy trade, crude's
recent powerful surge has offset positive momentum from
earnings, said Kevin Kruszenski, head of listed trading at
KeyBanc Capital Markets in Cleveland.
U.S. crude futures were down 41 cents at $111.88 per barrel
<CLc1>.
A more tempered view of economic growth was taking hold
across many markets, with higher U.S. gasoline prices seen as a
damper for consumer spending.
"(There's a) fundamental bias that the data is indeed
slowing and higher gas prices will take their toll on the
consumer," said David Ader, senior government bond strategist
at CRT Capital Group in Stamford, Connecticut.
U.S. government debt prices rose as traders banked on the
idea that even as the Federal Reserve's second bond-buying
program nears an end, the Fed will hold on to its portfolio and
its current level of monetary accommodation for some time.
[]
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note <US10YT=RR> was up
8/32 in price to yield 3.37 percent.
The dollar was up against a basket of major currencies,
with the U.S. Dollar Index <.DXY> up 0.06 percent at 74.041,
while against the Japanese yen, the dollar <JPY=> was up 0.10
percent at 81.91.
(Reporting by Julie Haviv, Edward Krudy and Ellen Freilich in
New York, Barbara Lewis in Rabat, Morocco, Masayuki Kitano in
Singapore and Chikafumi Hodo and Ayai Tomisawa in Tokyo;
Writing by Herbert Lash; Editing by Kenneth Barry)
