* China raises reserve requirement; growth outlook hit
* JPMorgan posts strong quarterly results, Intel too
* US retail sales rise, but fall short of expectation
(Updates with U.S. trading)
By Al Yoon
NEW YORK, Jan 14 (Reuters) - World shares wobbled and
Treasuries rose on Friday after China's move to raise banks'
reserves and a weaker-than-expected U.S. retail sales report
cooled enthusiasm about the global economic recovery.
A 47 percent jump in fourth-quarter profit at JPMorgan
Chase & Co. <JPM.N> soothed some investors though much of the
gain came from dipping into money that the No. 2 U.S. bank had
set aside to cover bad loans. See []
Confidence in equity markets also sagged as the U.S.
Commerce Department reported sales at retailers rose slightly
less than expected in December. Sales for all of 2010 reversed
two years of contraction, however, posting the biggest gain in
more than a decade. []
"The market is resilient," said Keith Springer, president
of Springer Financial Advisors in Sacremento, California.
"You had had every ingredient to bring a decline, such as
retail sales, yet it's holding up well," he said. "There is
anticipation over more stellar earnings."
A soggy start to U.S. trading and in Europe came after
China's 50-basis-point increase in required reserves forced its
banks to lock up more of their cash with the central bank as
Beijing hopes to drain the economy of excess money and tame
rising prices. []
The tightening briefly hit copper prices, and speculation
about such a move earlier sent Chinese stocks <> down 1.29
percent. Coming off a 28-month high on Thursday, the MSCI
All-Country World Index <.MIWD00000PUS> dipped 0.03 percent,
In the United States, the three major U.S. stock indexes
were modestly higher in late morning trading, reversing earlier
slight declines. The Dow Jones industrial average <> rose
19.45 points, or 0.17 percent, to 11,751.43 and the Standard &
Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> gained 3.26 points, or 0.25 percent, to
1,287.02.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index <> was up 6.41
points, or 0.23 percent, at 2,741.72, drawing some support a
day after Intel <INTC.O> posted better-than-expected quarterly
earnings. The semiconductor index <.SOX> shot up 1.91 percent.
The S&P MidCap 400 Index <.MID> hit an intraday record high
of 926.78 in late morning trading, reflecting expectations for
solid U.S. growth.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <> dropped 0.09
percent, recovering some lossses as commodities, such as copper
and oil bounced off earlier lows. Oil fell 55 cents, or 0.60
percent, to $90.85 per barrel.
Japan's Nikkei average <> fell 0.86 percent after a
surprisingly weak settlement of options for January and a
stronger yen against the dollar trigger profit-taking.
The euro headed for its best week in more than 1-1/2 years
on Friday and could extend gains after a string of successful
debt auctions by struggling euro-zone nations calmed fears of
the region's credit crisis.
The Australian dollar fell after China raised banks'
reserve requirements and fostered speculation of cooler Chinese
growth. Australia's strong trade links with China make it
sensitive to Chinese growth expectations. See []
The euro earlier hit a one-month high of $1.3458 <EUR=EBS>
on trading platform EBS and was on track for a weekly gain of
nearly 3.7 percent, the biggest since May, 2009. Gains this
week were also fueled by comments from European Central Bank
chief Jean-Claude Trichet, whose warning on inflation raised
expectations of rising interest rates. []
In late morning, though, the dollar had erased its losses
against both the euro and the yen, which some traders
attributed to position squaring ahead of a three-day weekend in
the United State. The euro <EUR=> dipped 0.13 percent to
$1.3338. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar <JPY=> gained
0.18 percent to 82.92 yen.
The dollar index <.DXY=>, which tracks the greenback's
performance against a basket of major currencies, was up 0.09
percentg at 79.26.
U.S. Treasury debt prices rose after the retail sales data,
and also as a Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan report
showed consumer sentiment across the nation was rising less
than expected this month.
"We thought we'd have a robust holiday season. This data is
a reminder that the jobs situation is still an issue and that
there are still problems in the economy," said Tyler Verbon,
chief investment officer at Biltmore Capital Advisors in
Princeton, New Jersey.
Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note yields that guide
corporate and consumer borrowing costs dipped to 3.28 percent.
The reports are unlikely to budge the Federal Reserve from
its $600 billion U.S. bond buying program aimed at accelerating
growth and lowering the lofty jobless rate, analysts said.
For details, see []
The quantitative easing program, or "QE 2,' is a luxury
liner for the financial companies," Springer Financial's
Springer said. "What the Fed is doing is giving them a
warchest."
(Additional reporting by Dominic Lau, Jessica Mortimer,
Emelia Sithole and Simon Falush in London, Ian Chua in Sydney,
and Wanfeng Zhou, Ryan Vlastelica and Karen Brettell in New
York; Editing by Jan Paschal)
