GLOBAL MARKETS-Dollar, U.S. stocks inch higher before Fed
* European stocks end down as Greek worries continue
* U.S. stocks climb; Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) reports strong earnings
* Dollar inches up ahead of Fed policy statement
(Updates with European stocks' close, adds details)
By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK, Jan 28 (Reuters) - The dollar edged up against the
euro on Wednesday as investor focus turned toward the Federal
Reserve, which delivers a post-meeting statement later in the
day, while U.S. stocks climbed after strong earnings from Apple.
Worries that Greece's new government is heading for clashes
with the rest of the euro zone over its debts weighed on
European equities, while shares of Apple, which jumped 7.7
percent, boosted U.S. stocks.
Apple grabbed headlines after it late on Tuesday reported
the biggest quarterly profits in corporate history. Boeing
also jumped 6.2 percent after the release of its results.
Investor (Other OTC: IVSBF - news) skepticism is growing that the Fed will raise U.S.
interest rates by mid-year, as had been expected. Other major
central banks are easing aggressively, while a strong dollar and
slumping oil prices are driving down inflation and hurting
profits for some U.S. multinationals.
After the Fed's first two-day meeting of 2015, policymakers
are likely to restate their "patient" approach to raising rates
while voicing faith that the U.S. economy will continue
improving.
"People will be looking at the 'patient' language. I can't
imagine it will be changed," said Ian Lyngen, senior government
bond strategist at CRT (Shanghai: 600125.SS - news) in Stamford, Connecticut.
MSCI (NYSE: MSCI - news) 's global share index was off 0.1
percent while an index of European shares ended down
0.1 percent.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was
up 51.43 points, or 0.30 percent, at 17,438.64. The Standard &
Poor's 500 Index was up 2.75 points, or 0.14 percent, at
2,032.30. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 24.83
points, or 0.53 percent, at 4,706.33.
The euro fell 0.40 percent to $1.1325 on the EBS trading
platform. The dollar rose 0.14 percent to 0.90385
Swiss franc.
"The bottom line is that for the dollar to resume its upside
it needs to take a break. The U.S. stock market, which has been
supporting the dollar rally, is starting to struggle," said
David Woo, head of global rates and currency research at Bank of
America Merrill Lynch in New York.
Prices on benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes
were up 10/32 to yield 1.7888 percent, according to Thomson
Reuters data. Shorter maturities were little changed.
The Singapore dollar skidded to its weakest in
nearly 4-1/2 years after the country's central bank eased
monetary policy unexpectedly, its first unscheduled change in
over a decade, ahead of a planned April meeting.
Singapore's central bank joins a growing list of
counterparts, from Denmark and Canada to Turkey and India, which
have made surprise moves in what is looking increasingly like a
global currency war.
Oil prices slipped after news U.S. stockpiles surged by
nearly 13 million barrels last week. Brent crude oil
fell 78 cents to $48.82 a barrel and U.S. crude futures
were down $1.36 at $44.87.
Gold eased as the dollar steadied. Spot gold was down
0.4 percent at $1,287.20 an ounce.
(Additional reporting by Marc Jones in London and Michael
Connor in New York; Editing by James Dalgleish and Dan Grebler)