GLOBAL MARKETS-Euro falls on Greece debt crisis, stocks slip

                                
  
                                
 * Euro falls broadly as Greek borrowing costs surge
                                
 * Greek debt yields at 12-year highs as patience runs thin
                                
 * Oil rises above $84 a barrel
                                
 * Global shares flat even as corporate results surprise
 (Updates with close of European markets)
                                
 By Herbert Lash
                                
 NEW YORK, April 21 (Reuters) - The euro fell broadly on
Wednesday as Greek borrowing costs hit 12-year highs on growing
impatience over Greece's festering debt crisis, while global
stocks slid despite strong U.S. corporate earnings.
                                
 The euro fell for the fifth day versus the U.S. dollar to a
near two-week low as the premium investors demand to hold Greek
government bonds rather than German Bunds surged past 500 basis
points. For details see: [ID:nN21197644]
                                
 Greece is still pushing to finance its debt through market
issuance but investors increasingly believe Athens will have to
tap a joint European Union-International Monetary Fund
emergency loan package.
                                
 Investors' and traders' patience wore thin after Greece's
finance minister said talks with European and IMF officials
will last two weeks. [ID:nLDE63K1M7] [ID:nLDE63K1I9]
                                
 The move to dump Greek debt may force Athens to take aid
sooner rather than later, even as Standard & Poor's rating
agency said it does not expect Greece to default.
[ID:nN21188754]
                                
 The yield on 10-year Greek debt rose to 8.4 percent, up
more than two and one-half percentage points since the start of
2010 and 2.5 times the 3.085 percent yield that Germany pays.
                                
 "Despite all the comments and help from the euro zone, EU
and IMF, the markets remain too skeptical," said Win Thin,
senior currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman in New
York.
                                
 "The Europeans have been dragging their feet. The policy
reaction has been pretty lackluster," he added. "It calls into
question investors' confidence in the euro zone as a whole."
                                
 The euro <EUR=> was down 0.25 percent at $1.3402.
                                
 Stocks were mostly little changed, pulled between solid
corporate results and Athens' woes.
                                
 MSCI's all-country world index <.MIWD00000PUS> was down 0.2
percent, and the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> closed
down 0.7 percent at 1,096.10 points.
                                
 Banking shares in Europe snapped the previous session's
gains to feature among the day's worst performers.
                                
 "The equity market's problems are really because of the
sovereign debt concerns and the political discussions
surrounding it ... there is still uncertainty," said
Giuseppe-Guido Amato, strategist at Lang & Schwarz in
Frankfurt, Germany.
                                
 "U.S. company earnings have been good, but investors are
still staying on the sideline."
                                
 U.S. stocks drifted lower on losses in health care and
energy stocks, offsetting strong gains by blue chips Apple Inc
<AAPL.O> and Morgan Stanley after their earnings beat analysts'
expectations. [ID:nN21194764]
                                
 "There is a rotation of money flow from health-care stocks
to technology, supported by strong earnings from the sector,
including Apple," said Arthur Hogan, chief market analyst at
Jefferies & Co in New York.
                                
 Other U.S. bellwethers that surprised on the upside
included AT&T Inc <T.N>, Boeing Co <BA.N>, McDonald's Corp
<MCD.N> and diversified U.S. manufacturer United Technologies
Corp <UTX.N>, all of which are Dow components.
                                
 The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 20.63
points, or 0.19 percent, at 11,137.69. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index <.SPX> was up 0.89 points, or 0.07 percent, at
1,208.06. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was up 1.95
points, or 0.08 percent, at 2,502.26.
                                
 The S&P health care sector <.GSPA> fell more than 1
percent, with Abbott Laboratories <ABT.N> down 2 percent to $52
after it trimmed its current-year forecast, citing the costs of
U.S. health-care reform.
                                
 Oil prices rose above $84 a barrel even after U.S.
government data showed an unexpected increase in crude
inventories and fuel stocks. [ID:nSGE63K06F]
                                
 U.S. crude futures <CLc1> rose 40 cents to $84.25 a barrel,
reversing earlier declines.
                                
 Copper prices fell more than 1 percent and gold trimmed
earlier gains as the euro fell broadly. Bullion managed to hold
its ground as worries about Greece spurred safe-haven buying.
ID:nLDE63K13B
                                
 Industrial metals analysts said robust Chinese imports data
kept them bullish about copper for the longer-term.
[ID:nLDE63K135]
                                
 Prices of longer-dated U.S. government debt rose while
shorter-dated notes and bills held steady, as investors swapped
risky Greek and Portuguese bonds for Treasuries and German
bunds.
                                
 The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note <US10YT=RR> was up
10/32 in price to yield 3.76 percent. The 2-year U.S. Treasury
note <US2YT=RR> was down 1/32 in price to yield 1.02 percent.
                                
 Spot gold prices <XAU=> rose $7.35 to $1,147.30 an ounce.
 (Reporting by Rodrigo Campos, Wanfeng Zhou, Emily Flitter in
New York;  William James, Harpreet Bhal, Joe Brock and Humeyra
Pamuk in London; Writing by Herbert Lash; Editing by Leslie
Adler)