* Strong earnings and data see dollar fall to one-month
low
* Oil climbs over $61 after fall in U.S. crude inventories
* Government debt prices fall on rising investor sentiment
* Gold jumps to almost $940 an ounce on tumbling dollar
(Updates with close of U.S. markets)
By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, July 15 (Reuters) - Global stocks and crude oil
prices jumped 3.0 percent or more on Wednesday after
blockbuster earnings from Intel and a raft of economic news
suggested the U.S. economy may be pulling out of a deep
recession.
Oil almost topped $62 a barrel at one point on data showing
a fall in U.S. crude inventories and after strong results from
Goldman Sachs and Intel on Tuesday lifted hopes for recovery.
Safe-haven demand for the U.S. dollar and government debt
tumbled as investors shifted into higher-yielding currencies
and drove up the price of gold and industrial metals. The U.S.
dollar fell to a one-month low against major currencies.
Data showing factories in New York state nearly recovered
from recession in July lifted spirits, leading investors to
shrug off forecasts from the Federal Reserve for 2009-2011 that
said the U.S. jobless rate could top 10 percent this year.
[]
The rally in stocks pushed the benchmark Standard & Poor's
500 Index up 6.1 percent so far this week -- lifting it again
into positive territory for 2009 -- in the best three-day
advance since stocks surged off a decade low in March.
The Dow and Nasdaq each gained more than 3.0 percent, while
the MSCI all-country world index <.MIWD00000PUS> rose 2.97
percent. Emerging markets also surged, with MSCI's emerging
equities index <.MSCIEF> climbing almost 4.0 percent.
The release of Intel's results after the bell on Tuesday
set the tone for a worldwide rally in equities, with the
technology bellwether handily beating profit estimates on
demand for personal computers that was better than expected.
Intel's shares jumped 7.3 percent.
"Intel is the guts of the whole technology industry, so
when they're talking about consumers getting more active on the
PC front, that augers well for a lot of different things," said
David Katz, chief investment officer at Matrix Asset Advisors
in New York.
AMD Micro Devices <AMD.N>, Intel's main rival, gained 8.7
percent while Microsoft Corp <MSFT.O> rose 4.4 percent.
The PHLX semiconductor index <.SOXX> rose 4.4 percent to
post its fifth-straight day of gains -- its longest winning
streak since a six-day run-up in late May.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> closed up 256.72
points, or 3.07 percent, at 8,616.21. The Standard & Poor's 500
Index <.SPX> gained 26.84 points, or 2.96 percent, at 932.68.
The Nasdaq Composite Index <> advanced 63.17 points, or
3.51 percent, at 1,862.90.
"With the Fed saying that things are looking a little bit
better than they thought, that means profits will uniformly
look better than everybody thought," said Marc Pado, U.S.
market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald & Co in San Francisco.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top
shares rose 2.8 percent to close at 863.32 points.
Oil surged after the U.S. Energy Information Administration
said crude inventories fell by 2.8 million barrels, or more
than expected. [] The decline was offset by a
bigger-than-forecast rise in gasoline supplies.
U.S. crude settled up $2.02, or 3.39 percent, at $61.54 a
barrel. It traded as high as $61.98 a barrel.
London Brent crude settled at $63.09 a barrel, up $2.23.
An improved outlook for the economy tends to make investors
more willing to buy riskier assets like stocks and lessen their
appetite for safe-haven assets like government debt.
U.S. industrial output declined at a slower pace in June
and the New York Fed's Empire State general business conditions
index posted its strongest reading in a year in July,
suggesting a deep recession was loosening its grip.
In a sign U.S. consumers' credit-worthiness may not be
deteriorating as rapidly as feared, credit card companies
Capital One Financial Corp and Discover Financial Services
reported lower-than-expected defaults and delinquencies in
June.
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note <US10YT=RR> was
down 36/32 in price to yield 3.61 percent. The 2-year U.S.
Treasury note <US2YT=RR> was down 5/32 in price to yield 1.02
percent.
The dollar fell against a basket of major currencies, with
the U.S. Dollar Index <.DXY> down 0.97 percent at 79.409.
The euro <EUR=> rose 0.97 percent at $1.4104, while against
the yen, the dollar <JPY=> rose 0.69 percent at 94.24.
New York gold futures rose toward $940 an ounce on dollar
weakness and the oil rally, and as a faster-than-expected pace
in U.S. inflation boosted bullion's appeal as an investment
hedge against a potential upward spiral in prices.
The gold contract for August <GCQ9> delivery settled up
$16.60 at $939.40 an ounce in New York.
Asian stocks gained for a second day as Intel's results
augured well for the U.S. earnings season and consumer demand
globally. Japan's Nikkei eked out a 0.1 percent gain, but
shares elsewhere in the region as measured by MSCI's
Asia-Pacfic index rose 2.9 percent.
(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos, Steven C. Johnson, Ellen
Freilich in New York; Joanne Frearson, Joe Brock and Alex
Lawler; writing by Herbert Lash; Editing by Dan Grebler)
