GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks extend gains on US data; dollar slips

                                
   * Jobless claims, durable goods orders better than forecast
                                
* World stocks up for 4th day, Europe ends at 15-month high
                                
* Dollar slips for 2nd straight day in thin trade
                                
 By Walter Brandimarte
                                
 NEW YORK, Dec 24 (Reuters) - U.S. and European stocks hit
more than one-year closing highs on Thursday after
better-than-expected U.S. jobless claims and durable goods
orders drove optimism that the economic recovery is gaining
hold, while the dollar slipped after a recent rally.
                                
 Oil and gold prices got a boost from the weaker dollar,
which makes commodities cheaper for investors using other
currencies.
                                
 On Wall Street, the Standard & Poor's 500 marked a 15-month
closing high and the Dow Jones hit a 14-month closing high,
while European stocks closed at their highest level in nearly
15 months. Volumes were thin, however, in a shortened Christmas
Eve session.
                                
 "To be in this upbeat position is good, after all the pain
and unhappiness of last year," said Mike Lenhoff, chief
strategist at Brewin Dolphin Securities in London. "The
question is whether the rally will be sustained into the new
year, and I think it will. We know the profits story will be
supportive, with topline growth."
                                
 Underpinning investor optimism was data showing that new
orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods excluding
transportation surged 2 percent in November, twice what markets
expected. For more, see [ID:nN24182733].
                                
 And new claims for unemployment benefits in the United
States fell 28,000 to a 15-month low of 452,000 last week.
                                
 The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> closed up 53.66
points, or 0.51 percent, at 10,520.10, while the Standard &
Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> climbed 5.89 points, or 0.53 percent,
to 1,126.48. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> added 16.05
points, or 0.71 percent, to 2,285.69.
                                
 Shares of Apple Inc <AAPL.O> jumped 3.4 percent to $209.04,
after hitting an all-time high of $209.35, on growing
excitement over the expected but unconfirmed release of a
tablet computer. [ID:nN24186088]
                                
 The health-care sector, which has rallied recently as
health reform legislation appeared less ominous than had been
feared, weakened on Thursday. The U.S. Senate cleared the last
hurdle on U.S. President Barack Obama's health-care overhaul on
Thursday, but the bill must now be reconciled with the measure
recently approved by the U.S. House of Representatives. The
Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payor index <.HMO> fell 0.26 percent.
[ID:nN23220406]
                                
 In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 index <.FTEU3> of leading
shares ended 0.1 percent higher, driven by commodities and bank
stocks.
                                
 The index is up nearly 61 percent from its lifetime low of
March 9 and is up about 25 percent to date in 2009, on track
for its best year since 1999, when it surged nearly 34
percent.
                                
 The MSCI all-country world stock index <.MIWD00000PUS>
climb 0.5 percent, in its fourth straight session of gains.
                                
 The MSCI index for emerging market shares rose 0.95
percent, adding to its gains of more than 70 percent so far
this year.
                                
 U.S. crude oil <CLc1> rose $1.06, or 1.38 percent, to
$77.73 per barrel, while spot gold prices <XAU=> gained 1.62
percent to $1,104.30.
                                
 DOLLAR SLIDES AGAIN
                                
 The U.S. dollar slid for the second consecutive session
against the euro despite the positive U.S. data, as investors
sought to lock in recent gains.
                                
 Trade was extremely thin in Europe and the United States
ahead of Friday's Christmas holiday, and traders were wary of
reading too much into current price movements.
                                
 The euro <EUR=> firmed 0.20 percent to $1.4354. Against the
Japanese yen, the dollar <JPY=> was up 0.07 percent at 91.61.
The greenback was practically unchanged against a basket of
major currencies, with the U.S. Dollar Index <.DXY> dipping
0.07 percent.
                                
 Treasury prices declined as investors moved into stocks.
Also weighing on Treasuries were concerns over the reception of
next week's round of government debt auctions.
                                
 "There are some lingering jitters about next week's
auctions coming in a very quiet week," said William O'Donnell,
head of U.S. Treasury strategy at RBS Securities in Stamford,
Connecticut.
                                
 The Treasury will auction $118 billion of two-year,
five-year and seven-year notes next week.
                                
 Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes <US10YT=RR> were trading
12/32 lower in price with the yield at 3.8009 percent, up from
3.76 percent late on Wednesday.
 (Additional reporting by Joanne Frearson, Leah Schnurr, Chris
Reese and Wanfeng Zhou; Editing by Leslie Adler)