* Global stocks gain on reassuring earnings, economic news
* Euro rises for 4th session vs dollar on German sentiment
* U.S. bonds tumble on supply worries, waning safety bid
* Oil tops $51 a barrel on stock gains, dollar weakness
(Updates with close of U.S. markets)
By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, April 24 (Reuters) - Oil and global stocks
rallied on Friday after results at Ford Motor Co and others
showed companies are weathering the recession while reassuring
U.S. and German economic news offset more bleak economic data.
Oil jumped above $51 a barrel on rising equity optimism, a
weaker dollar and government data showing the inventory of U.S.
homes for sale plummeted at a record pace in March.
Finance leaders from the world's largest economies, meeting
in Washington, said recent data suggest that the pace of
decline has slowed and some signs of stabilization are
emerging. []
The U.S. data "is adding some encouragement to the idea
that maybe the economy is flattening out here at the bottom,"
said Kim Rupert, managing director of global fixed-income
analysis at Action Economics LLC in San Francisco.
The Nasdaq eked out a seventh straight week of gains, but
the S&P 500 pulled back from a rally of more than 2 percent
late in the session, snapping a six-week winning streak, ending
up 1.68 percent.
Rising stocks nipped the safe-haven appeal of government
debt as investors worried about a spate of U.S. debt supply
next week. But euro zone government bonds rose after Britain's
economy posted its sharpest first-quarter decline in 30 years.
[]
The unemployment rate in Spain soared to above 17 percent,
also helping European debt prices to rise. []
U.S. stocks held gains as a much-anticipated concept paper
on the government stress tests for the 19 biggest U.S.
financial institutions was released. [] Results
from the stress tests are scheduled for release on May 4.
Ford <F.N> posted a smaller-than-expected loss and the
struggling automaker said it was on track to at least break
even in 2011. Ford also said it does not expect to seek
government loans. Its stock rose 11.4 percent. []
A 21 percent surge in American Express <AXP.N> provided the
biggest boost to the Dow, a day after aggressive cost-cutting
helped its results beat expectations. []
"The earnings news last night as well as this morning in
general appears to be relatively positive," said Michael
Sheldon, chief market strategist at RDM Financial in Westport,
Connecticut.
"At the core, the durable goods orders this morning also
provided further indication that the manufacturing sector is
showing tentative signs of improvement," he said.
March durable goods orders slipped less than expected.
Inventories of new homes last month contracted more
strongly than expected, raising hopes the economic cycle may
have bottomed.
A 5.2 percent monthly change in inventories of new U.S.
homes was the largest drop in more than 45 years, while the
year-on-year plunge of 33.7 percent was the largest on record.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> closed up 119.23
points, or 1.50 percent, at 8,076.29. The Standard & Poor's 500
Index <.SPX> added 14.31 points, or 1.68 percent, at 866.23.
The Nasdaq Composite Index <> gained 42.08 points, or 2.55
percent, at 1,694.29.
The FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top European shares
ended 2.3 percent higher at 810.38 points, but fell for the
week. It was the first weekly loss in the past seven weeks.
The euro rose for a fourth day against the U.S. dollar to
trade at a one-week high after German corporate sentiment in
April rose to its best level in five months, boosting hopes the
downturn in the euro zone's largest economy may be bottoming.
The German Ifo business climate index rose to 83.7 in April
from 82.2 last month, beating forecasts for 82.3.
The euro <EUR=> rose 0.74 percent to $1.3243.
The dollar fell against a basket of major currencies, with
the U.S. Dollar Index <.DXY> down 0.75 percent at 84.764.
Against the yen, the dollar <JPY=> fell 0.95 percent to
97.12.
U.S. crude oil futures <CLc1> rose $1.93 to settle at
$51.55 a barrel after rising as high as $51.75. London Brent
crude <LCOc1> rose $1.56 to settle at $51.67.
Oil has been influenced by dollar fluctuations and stocks
for much of the week, as an indicator of future economic
strength and of the potential for higher oil demand. But price
gains were capped by historically high inventories of crude.
"Our market's been strong and taking direction from
equities," said Addison Armstrong, analyst at Tradition Energy
in Stamford, Connecticut.
Gold surged to a three-week high before easing, boosted by
the prospect of further purchases by China after the country
said it had been buying the precious metal since 2003.
Gold for June delivery <GCM9> settled up $7.50 at $914.10
an ounce in New York.
"The massive accumulation of foreign exchange reserves
meant gold as a proportion of total reserves had fallen below 1
percent compared with a norm of about 2 percent," said Michael
Lewis, head of commodities research at Deutsche Bank.
Asian stocks fell on earnings disappointments, snapping the
region's longest streak of weekly gains in 18 months.
Japan's Nikkei average <> fell 1.6 percent,
underperforming the broad regional downdraft, while MSCI's
index of Asia Pacific <.MIAPJ0000PUS> shares excluding Japan
fell 0.4 percent.
(To read Reuters Global Investing blog, double-click on
http://blogs.reuters.com/globalinvesting; for the MacroScope
blog, click on http://blogs.reuters.com/macroscope; for Hedge
Fund blog, click on http://blogs.reuters.com/hedgehub)
(Reporting by Leah Schnurr, Vivianne Rodrigues, Chris Reese
and Frank Tang in New York; Sitaraman Shankar, Ikuko Kao in
London; writing by Herbert Lash; editing by Dan Grebler)
