* Wall Street gets small lift after Bernanke speech
* Bonds post modest gains on view Fed to keep rates low
* Early dollar gains pressure oil below $75 a barrel
* Dollar loses gains, falls vs euro after Bernanke speech
(Updates with U.S. markets, changes byline, dateline,
previous LONDON)
By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, Dec 7 (Reuters) - The dollar retreated from a
five-week high on Monday that had pushed down the price of
crude oil, gold and other commodities after Federal Reserve
Chairman Ben Bernanke cautioned the economy remained fragile.
U.S. stocks were slightly higher and the euro firmed after
Bernanke said while the U.S. economy has improved it is a long
way to recovery, dousing speculation sparked by last week's
jobs data that the Fed will soon raise interest rates.
Bernanke told the Economic Club of Washington that tight
credit and a weak labor market would be "formidable headwinds"
that would hold back growth. For details, see: []
"We still have some ways to go before we can be assured that
the recovery will be self-sustaining," he said.
Gold earlier had fallen by 2 percent at one point and crude
oil prices fell below $75 a barrel as the stronger dollar sent
investors fleeing from risk. [] []
Industrial metals also fell, with copper dropping to a near
one-week low. []
The dollar had rallied to its highest in more than a month
against the euro after data showed only 11,000 U.S. jobs were
shed in November, sparking hopes the U.S. economy was on the
road to recovery. The market had expected 130,000 job losses.
U.S. Treasury prices rose as bond investors realized the
Fed was not going to raise interest rates soon, given the U.S.
labor market remained weak despite improvements.
Bernanke forecast modest growth in 2010, enough to lower
the jobless rate slowly, but said the economy still faced
considerable headwinds.
Analysts said this reassured bond investors the low
job-loss count reported for November did not mean the Fed would
hurry to raise interest rates.
Bernanke was "appropriately cautious about the outlook,"
said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's economy.com in West
Chester, Pennsylvania.
After 1 p.m., the Dow Jones industrial average <> was
up 42.62 points, or 0.41 percent, at 10,431.52. The Standard &
Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was up 3.29 points, or 0.30 percent, at
1,109.27. The Nasdaq Composite Index <> was up 2.16
points, or 0.10 percent, at 2,196.51.
In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top
regional shares provisionally closed down 0.5 percent at
1,020.61 points.
"The markets are going to be preoccupied now on when the
central banks are going to change their message on interest
rates," said Mike Lenhoff, strategist at Brewin Dolphin. "It
will have a dampening influence on how much progress these
equity markets can make and how sustainable it is."
The dollar retreated from early gains. The dollar was down
against a basket of major currencies, with the U.S. Dollar
Index <.DXY> down 0.41 percent at 75.597.
The euro <EUR=> was up 0.05 percent at $1.4858, and against
the yen, the dollar <JPY=> was down 1.19 percent at 89.35.
Crude oil recouped some losses. U.S. light sweet crude oil
<CLc1> fell 58 cents, or 0.77 percent, to $74.89 a barrel.
Spot gold prices <XAU=> fell $1.80 to $1159.40 an ounce.
Most longer-dated euro zone government bond prices rose as
weaker equities helped lower risk government debt recover from
a sell-off last week sparked by better-than-expected U.S.
non-farm payrolls data. []
The MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks traded outside Japan
<.MIAPJ0000PUS>, which has rallied 66 percent this year, was
little changed. Japan's Nikkei index <> jumped 1.5 percent
to a six-week closing high.
(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch, Ryan Vlastelica and Nick
Olivari in New York and Joanne Frearson, Emelia
Sithole-Matarise, Chris Baldwin and Jan Harvey in London;
Writing by Herbert Lash; Editing by Andrew Hay)
