GLOBAL MARKETS-U.S. stocks, dollar slip on growth fears

                                
  
                                
 * Wall Street wavers as growth fears offset strong results
                                
 * Bonds rise with eye on Fed meeting, economic growth
                                
 * Dollar falls vs euro; full focus on Fed meeting
 (Adds fresh prices, silver quote)
                                
 By Herbert Lash
                                
 NEW YORK, April 25 (Reuters) - Wall Street wavered, oil
slipped and the U.S. dollar weakened further against the euro
in thin trading on Monday as major European markets were shut
for Easter and the outlook for economic growth faltered.
                                
 The dollar could test its all-time low against a basket of
currencies this week if the U.S. Federal Reserve shows no sign
of changing its easy monetary policy after a two-day meeting of
Fed policy-makers concludes on Wednesday. For details see:
[ID:nN25194588]
                                
 U.S. stocks were little changed, just below three-year
highs, after strong first-quarter earnings. Seventy-five
percent of S&P 500 companies that have reported beat analysts'
expectations, just above the average of the past four quarters.
[ID:nN25198634].
                                
 Spot silver prices dropped nearly 2 percent, wiping out
sharp initial gains, after a technical failure to take out a
record price set in 1980 triggered a bout of heavy selling.
[ID:nN25384793]
                                
 Although oil prices turned lower in choppy trade, crude's
recent powerful surge is offsetting positive momentum from
earnings, said Kevin Kruszenski, head of listed trading at
KeyBanc Capital Markets in Cleveland.
                                
 As the day progresses stocks could fall, he said.
                                
 "I could see some profit-taking after the advance we've
had," Kruszenski said.
                                
 A more tempered view of economic growth was taking hold
across many markets.
                                
 "(There's a) fundamental bias that the data is indeed
slowing and higher gas prices will take their toll on the
consumer," said David Ader, senior government bond strategist
at CRT Capital Group in Stamford, Connecticut.
                                
 The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was down 49.42
points, or 0.4 percent, at 12,456.57. The Standard & Poor's 500
Index <.SPX> was off 4.70 points, or 0.4 percent at 1,332.68.
The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was down 3.66 points, or 0.1
percent, at 2,816.50.
                                
 U.S. government debt prices rose as traders banked on the
idea that even as the Federal Reserve's second bond-buying
program nears an end, the Fed will hold on to its portfolio and
its current level of monetary accommodation for some time.
[ID:nN25334013]
                                
 The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note <US10YT=RR> was up
2/32 in price to yield 3.39 percent.
                                
 With European markets closed and no major U.S. economic
reports on the calendar, the two-day meeting of the Federal
Open Market Committee that ends Wednesday will be the key event
traders focus on to gauge the direction of monetary policy.
                                
 Traders and investors keenly await a planned news
conference by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke after the FOMC meeting
ends to see how the Fed plans to end its easy monetary policy.
                                
 The conference is the first regularly scheduled briefing by
a Fed chief in the U.S. central bank's 97-year history.
                                
"The bond and currency market reaction is still an unknown
and a significant risk," said Camilla Sutton, chief currency
strategist at Scotia Capital in Toronto.
                                
Silver's sharp reversal in heavy trading coincided with
weaker gold and crude oil prices.
                                
 "This morning's action so far does look like a potential
exhaustion," said James Dailey, portfolio manager of the TEAM
Asset Strategy Fund <TEAMX.O>.
                                
 Spot silver <XAG=> fell 0.8 percent to $46.29 an ounce, off
from a session high of $49.31. U.S. silver futures <SIK1>
jumped as much as over 8 percent to a intraday high of $49.82
an ounce, off an all-time peak of $50.35 set Jan. 18, 1980.
                                
 The euro <EUR=> was up 0.14 percent at $1.4576, but the
dollar was up 0.1 percent against a basket of major currencies
<.DXY> at 74.070.
                                
 Against the Japanese yen, the dollar <JPY=> was up 0.31
percent at 82.08 yen.
                                
 U.S. light sweet crude oil <CLc1> fell 61 cents to $111.68
a barrel.
                                
 Spot gold prices <XAU=> fell $2.13 to $1,505.50 ounce.
 (Reporting by Julie Haviv, Edward Krudy and Ellen Freilich in
New York, Barbara Lewis in Rabat, Morocco, Masayuki Kitano in
Singapore and Chikafumi Hodo and Ayai Tomisawa in Tokyo;
Writing by Herbert Lash; Editing by Andrew Hay)