* Spike in Chinese consumer inflation dents recovery hopes
* Copper slips, oil falls below $82 on China CPI concerns
* U.S. bond prices slip ahead of 30 year auction
* Dollar Libor highest since November pre-FOMC
(Updates with open of U.S. markets; adds byline, dateline)
By Herbert Lash and Jeremy Gaunt
NEW YORK/LONDON, March 11 (Reuters) - Global stocks slipped
and the dollar wavered on Thursday after an inflation spike in
China sparked concerns interest rates may head higher and a
poor read on U.S. jobs data soured economic recovery hopes.
The inflation spurt in February to a 16-month high and a
raft of economic data indicating broad-based strength in the
Chinese economy provided fresh arguments that policy-makers
would tighten sooner rather than later in China. For details
see: []
"Nobody expects Chinese demand growth to be as strong as
last year but any further tightening of lending will impact,
especially with the U.S and Europe still on the road to
recovery," said Carl Firman, an analyst at Virtual Metals.
Hopes for economic growth also suffered on U.S. data that
showed continuing claims for jobless benefits jumped to 4.56
million, or more than expected, which spurred buying of
low-risk U.S. Treasury debt on worries over the economy's
strength. []
"This shows that the labor market isn't getting stronger,
which continues to be something that will negatively impact
consumer spending," said Gary Shilling, president of an
investment research firm in Springfield, New Jersey.
World stocks as measured by MSCI <.MIWD00000PUS> were off
about 0.45 percent.
In early trade the Dow Jones industrial average <> was
down 36.43 points, or 0.34 percent, at 10,530.90. The Standard
& Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was down 3.35 points, or 0.29
percent, at 1,142.26. The Nasdaq Composite Index <> was
down 5.70 points, or 0.24 percent, at 2,353.25.
Bond prices were pressured by anticipation of new supply
from the auction of 30-year bonds. The benchmark 10-year U.S.
Treasury note <US10YT=RR> was down 3/32 in price to yield 3.73
percent.
Oil fell below $82 a barrel, retreating from an eight-week
high hit a day earlier, as the Chinese inflation spike led
investors to weigh the prospects of monetary tightening in a
big world energy consumer. []
U.S. light sweet crude oil <CLc1> fell 19 cents to $81.90 a
barrel.
The interbank cost of borrowing dollar funds hit its
highest since Nov. 24 as speculation intensified about the
timing of the first U.S. federal funds rate hike since December
2008. []
The Federal Open Market Committee is expected to leave U.S.
interest rates unchanged at between zero and 0.25 percent after
its one-day meeting next Tuesday.
The dollar was trading at break-even against a basket of
major currencies, with the U.S. Dollar Index <.DXY> almost flat
at 80.441, off a previous session close of 80.445.
The euro <EUR=> was down 0.07 percent at $1.365 and against
the yen the dollar <JPY=> was down 0.12 percent at 90.40.
Spot gold prices <XAU=> fell $1.25 to $1106.50.
Earlier in Asia Japan's Nikkei <> rose nearly 1
percent with interest focused mainly on exporters.
(Reporting by Ryan Vlastelica, Nick Olivari and Emily Flitter
in New York; David Sheppard, George Matlock and Michael Taylor
in London; writing by Herbert Lash, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
