GLOBAL MARKETS-Shares flat on earnings, oil jumps on Middle East worry

* European shares slide after soft PMIs

* U.S. stocks flat with focus on earnings

* Oil rises on Middle East concern

(Updates to U.S. market open, changes byline, changes dateline,

previous London)

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK, April 23 (Reuters) - Stocks in major markets

shook off soft data in big economies to hold near the unchanged

mark on Thursday, while oil prices climbed on Middle East

tensions.

U.S. stocks were little changed. Some strong earnings from

AT&T (Sao Paolo: ATTB34.SA - news) , up 2.6 percent to $33.73, and eBay, up 3.7

percent to $58.84, and a rise in energy-related shares offset

weaker manufacturing data along with lackluster reports on the

housing and labor markets.

"There is a little bit less focus on the macro right now

because the data is a little bit light, and more focused on the

more bottom-up perspective, just because there is so much

information," said David Lefkowitz, senior equity strategist at

UBS Wealth Management Americas in New York.

"We've seen a number of examples of stock prices going up,

even though earnings guidance is going down because of currency.

The concerns about the dollar are a little bit overdone."

A 0.7 percent gain in energy shares also kept the

S&P 500 near the flat line, as an escalation of a civil war in

Yemen raised concerns about the security of supplies.

Brent crude jumped 3.3 percent at $64.80 a barrel,

while U.S. crude rose 3.2 percent to $57.93.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 11.48 points,

or 0.06 percent, to 18,026.79, the S&P 500 lost 1.08

points, or 0.05 percent, to 2,106.88 and the Nasdaq Composite

dropped 2.48 points, or 0.05 percent, to 5,032.69.

European shares slipped, with Germany's DAX index

underperforming following a disappointing purchasing managers'

survey, while weak results from Ericsson (Xetra: ERCA.DE - news) hit technology stocks.

Overall, euro zone private sector business growth was weaker

than forecast, despite help for exporters from a big fall in the

euro and the March launch of a sovereign bond buying program

from the European Central Bank.

MSCI (NYSE: MSCI - news) 's all-country world index of equity

performance in 46 countries inched up 0.12 percent, while the

FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was off

0.53 percent at 1,619.71. Germany's DAX dropped 1.2

percent.

Soft Chinese and Japanese manufacturing data served to boost

expectations of more policy stimulus there, as Japan's Nikkei

benchmark stock index touched a 15-year intraday high,

while China's CSI300 index reached a seven year high.

U.S. Treasuries yields were little changed on Thursday with

benchmark yields hovering near 3-1/2 week highs after a broad

selloff in Treasuries, German Bunds and British Gilts on

Wednesday.

Benchmark 10-year notes were last down 4/32 in

price to yield 1.984 percent.

The dollar weakened 0.4 percent against a basket of

major currencies in light of the soft U.S. data and waning fears

over an imminent Greek exit from the euro zone.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Nick Zieminski)