* Stocks rise on upbeat U.S., European corporate earnings
* Australian dollar hits post-float high vs dollar
* Gold touches an all-time high above $1,500/ounce
(Updates prices, adds details, comment)
By Wanfeng Zhou
NEW YORK, April 20 (Reuters) - Upbeat earnings and outlooks
from companies including chipmaker Intel lifted global stocks
and fueled risk appetite on Wednesday, driving commodities
higher and the Australian dollar to a post-float high.
Broad weakness in the U.S. dollar and a well-received bond
auction from Spain helped push the euro to its highest in 15
months, while gold set new record highs above $1,500 an ounce.
Solid corporate earnings in the U.S. and Europe bolstered
optimism about the economy and offset concerns of sovereign
debt problems on both sides of the Atlantic after Standard &
Poor's on Monday downwardly revised its outlook for the United
States' prized AAA credit rating.
"What you've seen over the last couple of days is some very
good news that has come out on the earnings front -- you are
starting to see much sounder beats as it relates to companies,"
said Burt White, managing director and chief investment
officer, LPL Financial in Boston.
World equities measured by MSCI All-Country World Index
<.MIWD00000PUS> advanced 2 percent, extending the previous
session's 0.5 percent rise and further recovering from Monday's
1.6 percent loss.
Intel <INTC.O> posted higher than expected sales and
forecast quarterly revenues well above Wall Street's estimates,
while the world's biggest cosmetics group, L'Oreal <OREP.PA>,
and carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen <PEUP.PA> also came in with
robust figures.
Major U.S. stock indexes soared. The Dow Jones industrial
average <> was up 189.06 points, or 1.54 percent, at
12,454.98. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was up 18.12
points, or 1.38 percent, at 1,330.74. The Nasdaq Composite
Index <> was up 54.23 points, or 1.97 percent, at
2,799.14.
Japan's Nikkei average <> rose 1.8 percent, snapping a
three-day losing run, and the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300
<> rose 1.7 percent. Emerging market stocks <.MSCIEF>
climbed 2.4 percent.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Asset returns in 2011:http://r.reuters.com/zub29r
Inflation-adjusted vs. nominal gold price:
http://r.reuters.com/ren88r
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Societe Generale, however, said in a note that hedge funds
were cautious on U.S. equities, keeping short positions on the
S&P 500 <.SPX> and the Russell 2000 <>, though they were
net long on Japanese equities.
DEBT WORRIES
Yields on 10-year Spanish government bonds <ES10YT=TWEB>
fell to 5.46 percent after Spain saw solid demand for 10- and
13-year bonds at an auction, though speculation of debt
restructuring by Greece forced Madrid to pay higher yields than
a month ago to attract investors. []
The euro rose 1.2 percent versus the dollar to $1.4512
<EUR=>, pulling further away from this week's low of around
$1.4155. Traders said stop-losses were triggered through last
week's high of $1.4521 and on the break of $1.4530.
Renewed pressure on Greece to explore a debt restructuring,
[] has rattled peripheral debt markets in recent
sessions pushing Greek and Portuguese bond yields to new
highs.
"All in all, relatively reassuring results providing no
indication Spain's decoupling from the periphery is under
immediate threat. That said, the risk of contagion has
certainly not been taken off the table," said Richard McGuire,
rate strategist at Rabobank.
Higher-yielding currencies rose, with the Australian dollar
<AUD=D4> up 1.5 percent at $1.0678 after hitting a post-float
high of $1.0692.
Against a basket of currencies <.DXY>, the U.S. dollar fell
0.7 percent to 74.354.
The soft dollar boosted commodities, with copper <CMCU3> up
2.3 percent and Brent crude <LCOc1> 1.9 percent to above $123 a
barrel, recovering from a 1.7 percent drop in the previous two
sessions.
Gold <XAU=> breached $1,500 an ounce for the first time and
silver hit a 31-year high. Concerns about government debt
problems, inflation and turmoil in the Middle East also helped
boost gold prices.
(Additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak, Barani Krishnan
and Nick Olivari in New York and Dominic Lau in London; Editing
by Chizu Nomiyama)
