* Key U.S. retailer results weigh on Wall Street
* Oil price falls on high U.S. inventories
* Euro rises vs dollar after German bond auction
(Updates with U.S. markets)
By Al Yoon and Jeremy Gaunt
NEW YORK/LONDON, Aug 18 (Reuters) - World stocks resumed
their bearish run on Wednesday after tepid earnings reports
from some big U.S. companies and energy shares fell as crude
oil prices remained under pressure after a disappointing
industry report.
The euro rose against the dollar after a German government
bond auction attracted solid demand, easing some concerns about
fiscal instability in the European Union.
Oil prices pared losses after a government report showed
U.S. crude stocks last week fell less than analysts had
expected. That news undercut some of the pressure on prices
after a report late on Tuesday from the American Petroleum
Institute that showed a rise in crude stocks last week.
On Wall Street, shares fell back a day after rallying more
than 1 percent, as investors grappling with the direction of
the economy assessed the latest corporate earnings.
Retailers were again in focus. Discounter Target Corp.
reported weak same-store sales but its shares rebounded from
earlier losses after the company said it would open 20 or more
new stores next year and more than 30 in 2012.
"You're hearing more of the same from the retailers that
the second half appears it might not be the easiest. While
consumers may be coming to the stores just as often, it doesn't
seem to be they're spending any more," said Kurt Brunner,
portfolio manager at Swarthmore Group in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania.
Also on Wednesday, warehouse club operator BJ's Wholesale
Club Inc <BJ.N> missed profit expectations, sending its shares
down 4.2 percent at $41.50. Target <TGT.N> gained 1.8 percent
to $51.59 after earlier losing about 3 percent. The rebound
lifted the consumer discretionary sector and helped indexes
come off their lows.
Also on the earnings front, Deere & Co <DE.N> beat
estimates, but said sales were "far below normal levels" and
pointed to deteriorating conditions in Europe. Deere lost 1.4
percent to $66.26. []
The Dow Jones industrial average <> fell 31.63 points,
or 0.30 percent, to 10,374.22. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index
<.SPX> eased 2.23 points, or 0.20 percent, to 1,090.31. The
Nasdaq Composite Index <> edged up 0.02 points at
2,209.46.
Shares of global miner BHP Billiton <BHP.AX><BLT.L>
remained in focus, falling nearly 3 percent in London on
concerns that it may have to overpay for fertilizer group
Potash Corp after the Canadian firm rejected an initial offer.
In Europe the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <> edged
down 0.4 percent, pressured by energy stocks.
U.S. crude for September delivery <CLc1> fell nearly $2 at
$74.03 a barrel. It is down around 4 percent this month.
World shares as measured by MSCI <.MIWD00000PUS> and
Thomson Reuters <.TRXFLDGLPU> declined about a quarter of a
percent. Japan's Nikkei <> closed up about 0.9 percent.
Traders warned against reading too much into market moves
at the moment given that it is high summer in the northern
hemisphere and there are major questions about the direction of
the world economy.
"The market is still rangebound. There is no conviction at
the moment, and this will go on until September when investors
come back from holiday," said Alexandre Le Drogoff, technical
analyst at Aurel BGC in Paris.
The dollar endured selling pressure against the yen, easing
toward recent 15-year lows on growing speculation that Japanese
authorities are unlikely to intervene to counter their
currency's recent strong run.
The euro recovered from the day's low after a 5 billion
euro sale of German 10-year debt produced a record-low average
yield of 2.37 percent.
Sterling rose after the the release of minutes from the
Bank of England's policy meeting earlier this week showed
officials were less dovish than expected.
The dollar shed 0.3 percent against the yen to 85.25 yen
<JPY=>, not far from a 15-year low of 84.72 yen hit on trading
platform EBS last week. The euro declined 0.12 percent at
$1.2879 <EUR=>.
U.S. Treasury bond prices gained as the decline in equities
refreshed concerns about economic strength.
The 30-year bond surged more than a point in price to yield
3.70 percent, down from 3.77 percent at Tuesday's close and a
fresh 16-month low. Longer-dated German bonds rallied after
Berlin drew strong demand at a 5 billion euro sale of new
10-year paper at a record low average yield.
(Additional reporting by Blaise Robinson and Anirban Nag in
London, and Edward Krudy and Nick Olivari in New York, and Brad
Dorfman in Chicago; Editing by Leslie Adler)
