GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks, dollar fall on Bernanke jobs view

                                

                                
 * Stocks slip as Bernanke frets about high unemployment
                                
 * U.S. dollar falters on euro buying, Bernanke weighs
                                
 * New York oil trims gains on U.S. inventory increase
  (Adds close of European markets; changes dateline from
previous LONDON)
                                
 By Herbert Lash
                                
 NEW YORK, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Global stocks slipped and the
dollar fell on Wednesday as investors worried about the run-up
in equity markets this year and U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman
Ben Bernanke said U.S. unemployment remained too high.
                                
 U.S. crude prices retreated as official data showed
increases in U.S. oil inventories, while prices for Brent crude
in London topped $100 a barrel, supported by unrest in Egypt.
For details, see: [ID:nL3E7D90CD]
                                
 U.S. government debt prices rose as bargain hunters emerged
as anxiety over the U.S. central bank's inflation-fighting pace
pushed benchmark yields to 9-1/2-month highs. [ID:nN09165656]
                                
 Bernanke told the a U.S. House panel that a 9 percent
unemployment rate was too high and the rate of inflation too
low for the Fed to budge from its super-loose policy stand,
while acknowledging recent economic improvement.
[ID:nWAL9DE7ZM]
                                
 The euro broke above a key $1.3700 level versus the dollar
on Bernanke's testimony before the U.S. House of
Representatives Budget Committee that largely echoed a speech
he delivered last week.
                                
 Wall Street edged lower as investors booked profits after
stocks hit new 2-1/2-year highs Tuesday, but strong earnings
made it likely the market would continue an upward trend.
[ID:nN09170180]
                                
 Global stocks, as measured by MSCI's all-country world
index <.MIWD00000PUS> are up more than 4 percent so far this
year and the S&P 500, a U.S. benchmark, has gained more than 5
percent since the beginning of 2011.
                                
 "The primary trend (in the market) is that we are moving up
on solid earnings, and a little bit of profit-taking on a small
volume only means new bids are coming up," said Joseph Greco,
managing director at Meridian Equity Partners in New York.
                                
 Shares of Dow components Coca Cola Co <KO.N> and Walt
Disney Co <DIS.N> jumped after both reported strong results,
helping the index outperform the broad market. [ID:nN08101124]
and [ID:nN0883045]
                                
 The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was down 21.42
points, or 0.18 percent, at 12,211.73. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index <.SPX> dipped 6.88 points, or 0.52 percent, at
1,317.69. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> fell 11.03 points,
or 0.39 percent, at 2,786.02.
                                
 European shares were off, further retreating from 29-month
highs hit earlier this week, weighed down by mining shares on
concerns over demand after top consumer China raised interest
rates to fight inflation. [ID:nLDE71825X]
                                
 "Our view is that gently, not aggressively, we are not mega
bearish, take money off the table. We are looking to buy the
market at a lower level," said Philip Lawlor, investment
strategist at Smith & Williamson in London.
                                
 A rush of deals by stock exchange operators had little
impact on the big indexes.
                                
 Germany's Deutsche Boerse <DB1Gn.DE> is in advanced talks
to buy NYSE Euronext <NYX.N>, while the London Stock Exchange
<LSE.L> agreed to buy Canadian stock market operator TMX <X.TO>
[ID:nLDE71808S]
                                
 The dollar was down against a basket of major currencies,
with the U.S. Dollar Index <.DXY> off 0.38 percent at 77.701.
                                
 Against the Japanese yen, the dollar <JPY=> was up 0.21
percent at 82.49.
                                
 U.S. Treasury debt prices were higher. The benchmark
10-year note <US10YT=RR> was up 6/32 in price to yield 3.71
percent.
                                
 Bund futures <FGBLc1> settled at 122.33, down 49 ticks on
the day to briefly touch their lowest since mid-April.
                                
 U.S. light sweet crude oil <CLc1> fell 24 cents to $86.70 a
barrel. But North Sea Brent for March delivery < LCOc1> climbed
above $100 a barred, up 90 cents at $100.82.
                                
 The U.S. Energy Information Administration said domestic
crude stocks rose 1.9 million barrels in the week to Feb. 4, a
smaller increase than the forecast of a 2.4-million-barrel
build. [EIA/S]
                                
 Spot gold prices <XAU=> fell $2.65 to $1,361.00 an ounce.
                                
 Overnight in Asia, Japan's Nikkei <.N225> hit a 9-month
high before retreating to close down 0.2 percent, while MSCI's
index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> fell
1.2 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)
  (Reporting by Angela Moon, Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss, Richard
Leong in New York; Ikuko Kurahone, Harro ten Wolde and Josie
Cox in London; writing by Herbert Lash; editing by Jeffrey
Benkoe)