Reuters: US Dollar Report: GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks hit 8-month high, dollar bounces back

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GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks hit 8-month high, dollar bounces back Mar 27th 2012, 15:35 Tue Mar 27, 2012 11:35am EDT * Global stocks touch 8-month high before retreating * U.S. stocks little changed after rally * Stellar quarter for U.S. corporate deals By Rodrigo Campos NEW YORK, March 27 (Reuters) - World stocks touched an eight-month high o n T uesday, while the dollar rebounded from the previous day's losses a day after the Federal Reserve signalled it would continue its loose monetary policy. The U.S. dollar strengthened against the euro and the yen after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's dovish comments sent it tumbling in the previous session. U.S. stocks were little changed after a more than 1 percent rally lifted the S&P 500 to a four-year high o n M onday. "Bernanke yesterday talked about the need for aggressive monetary policy and the dollar took a pretty good whack, so it's probably clawing some of that back," said Art Hogan, managing director of Lazard Capital Markets in New York. Bernanke said Monday accommodative monetary policy would stay in place to support demand and, over time, drive down long-term unemployment. He stopped short of signalling the start of a new round of asset purchases by the Fed. The S&P 500 is on track to close its best quarter since 2009 and its fourth straight month of gains. MSCI's main global stock index was up 0.2 percent after hitting its highest level since Aug. 1. "Last week markets tried to price in a global economic slowdown but we're now seeing a slowdown, but not one that is unexpected," Hogan said. "We still believe there's a soft landing in China, Europe has stabilized and the U.S. continues to chug along at a sustainable rate." In morning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average dipped 4.80 points, or 0.04 percent, to 13,236.83. The S&P 500 Index shed 0.14 point, or 0.01 percent, to 1,416.37. The Nasdaq Composite gained 4.30 points, or 0.14 percent, to 3,126.87. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 fell 0.5 percent, while U.S. dollar-denominated Nikkei futures jumped 1.2 percent. A private sector report showed U.S. consumer confidence dipped in March but was nearly in line with forecasts, while inflation expectations rose to the highest in 10 months. U.S. Treasuries prices added slight gains after the data, with the 10-year yield again below its 200-day average and at its lowest in two weeks. The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note was up 13/32, with the yield at 2.2068 percent. Lower yields contributed to record-setting dollar amounts of U.S. corporate note and bond sales this quarter. With four days left, data from Thomson Reuters unit IFR show $274.5 billion were priced in investment grade deals, eclipsing the previous record for a first quarter of $272.3 billion in 2007 -before the credit crisis. This is the best quarter ever for high yield deals. At $88 billion, the amount beats the previous record of $85.3 billion set in the last quarter of 2010. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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