* Wall Street gains on earnings, new Caterpillar target
* Bond gains ease after Fed statement, higher U.S. stocks
* U.S. dollar struggles, euro close to 14-month high
* Oil retreats from one-year high above $79 a barrel
(Updates with U.S. markets, changes byline, dateline; previous
LONDON)
By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Global stocks surged to fresh
12-month highs on Monday, spurred on by surprisingly strong
corporate results, while the bullish mood in financial markets
drove U.S. oil prices above $79 a barrel before paring its
gains.
The rise in stock prices was helped by the slumping U.S.
dollar, which hovered near a 14-month low against the euro as
investors bet the Federal Reserve will hold U.S. interest rates
near zero well into next year. For details, see:
[]
Gold prices held above $1,050 an ounce, and U.S. Treasury
debt prices were little changed. []
[]
European shares hit a fresh 12-month closing high, Asian
shares hovered near 14-month highs and the broad S&P 500 set a
new intraday 52-week high amid increasing bullishness over the
third-quarter earnings season.
Better-than-expected results from such companies as
diversified manufacturer Eaton Corp <ETN.N> and Gannett Co Inc
<GCI.N>, the largest U.S. newspaper publisher, buoyed investors
looking for confirmation the economy is stabilizing.
[]
Caterpillar <CAT.N> led the Dow higher, gaining 4.3
percent, after Bank of America Merrill Lynch raised its price
target to $65 per share from $52, and increased its 2010 and
2011 earnings per share forecast.
Caterpillar reports quarterly results on Tuesday.
"It keeps going up. It doesn't want to stop. I don't think
anybody would dispute that a recovery is underway," said Mike
Lenhoff, chief strategist and head of research at Brewin
Dolphin Securities in London.
"The only issue is whether it's going to be sustainable or
not. The number of companies beating estimates in their
earnings, and also the number beating top line (revenue)
forecasts suggest it will be," he added.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> last traded up
101.87 points, or 1.02 percent, at 10,097.78. The Standard &
Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was up 9.83 points, or 0.90 percent, at
1,097.51. The Nasdaq Composite Index <> was up 17.42
points, or 0.81 percent, at 2,174.22.
The FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of leading European
shares rose 1.6 percent to close of 1,026.46 points, its
highest closing level since Oct. 3, 2008.
"Investor optimism is really rising rapidly now for the
first time since the March lows and I think a lot of money is
bursting off the sidelines as a result," said Bruce Bittles,
chief investment strategist at Robert W. Baird & Co in
Nashville.
Meanwhile, oil prices hovered at break-even as traders
questioned whether ample fuel supplies justified current price
levels. []
U.S. light sweet crude oil <CLc1> was up 17 cents at $78.70
a barrel.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> dipped 7 cents to $76.92.
U.S. Treasuries were little changed after the New York
Federal Reserve said tests of its reverse repurchase agreements
tool do not signal it is moving toward monetary tightening.
[]
Treasuries prices were up after the Fed announcement, but
backed off those gains as rising stocks, buoyed by investor
optimism over the strength of corporate earnings, sapped the
the safe-haven appeal of government debt.
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note <US10YT=RR> was up
2/32 in price, with the yield at 3.4003 percent.
Ten-year euro zone government bond prices fell in very thin
volume trading. Two-year debt yields pulled back from an
earlier nine-week peak after U.S. stocks pared initial gains.
[]
The benchmark MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside
Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> was up 0.51 percent and not far from a
14-month peak hit last week. Japan's Nikkei average <>
edged down 0.2 percent.
(To read Reuters Global Investing blog, click on
http://blogs.reuters.com/globalinvesting. For the MacroScope
blog, click on http://blogs.reuters.com/macroscope. For Hedge
Fund blog, click on http://blogs.reuters.com/hedgehub)
