GLOBAL MARKETS-Greek standoff saps Europe, dollar swings up ahead of Fed

* Dollar firm as Fed awaited, euro slips on Greece

* Wall Street seen starting subdued

* European steady after hitting near four month low

* European Court of Justice back ECB crisis plan with few caveats

* Crude rises as tropical storm hits Texas

By Marc Jones

LONDON, June 16 (Reuters) - A two-day sell-off in European stocks and bonds began to ease on Tuesday as attention switched from worries that Greece could tumble out of the euro to the start of the U.S. Federal Reserve's latest interest rate meeting.

European shares had hit a near four-month low and yields on lower-rated euro zone sovereign debt climbed to their highest point since November before the selling slowed, despite little obvious sign that the mood towards Greece was any brighter.

With the Fed meeting keeping investor risk-taking to a minimum in the United States, Wall Street was expected to see a cautious start as the jittery global mood saw further falls in Treasury yields as well as on German government debt.

The U.S. central bank is unlikely to raise rates at this meeting but investors will watch for any hints from Fed Chair Janet Yellen at a press conference after the meeting on Wednesday about the timing of a possible move.

"There is going to be some informational content in the dot charts, but it is going to be what chair Janet Yellen says at the press conference that will matter the most," said Eric Stein at U.S.-focused investment manager Eaton Vance (NYSE: EV - news) .

"The pace they go at (with hikes) and the terminal rate that they end are more important than the month they first hike, but the market is - wrongly in my opinion - viewing the timing of the first rate (rise) as a signal."

The dollar was firm ahead of the Wall Street restart following some robust house market data but it had been an up and down day up until that point, especially against the particularly volatile euro.

The euro zone currency took another hit as both Athens and its creditors continued to harden their stances following the latest breakdown in talks.

"Unfortunately, there is little new to report," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a news conference in Luxembourg, while in Athens Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras accused the euro zone and the IMF of trying to "humiliate" Greece.

The country's Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis also told a German newspaper that he is not planning to present new reform proposals at a key Eurogroup meeting on Thursday because it wasn't "the right place to present proposals which haven't been discussed and negotiated on a lower level before."

Germany's DAX, France's CAC and stock markets in Italy and Spain were all still in the red but had recovered most of their morning losses as U.S. trading approached. Over the last few weeks they have lost between 6 and 8 percent.

Greek stocks were down 4.7 percent.

VOLATILE TIMES

The lure of the safety of German government debt also remained strong as Bund yields dropped, although periphery euro zone yields largely stabilised, with the exception of Greece.

Europe's top court helped by ruling that the bond buying plan European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi brought in in 2012 when he promised to do "whatever it takes" to save the euro was in line with EU law. [ID: ]

The volatility for the euro showed little sign of abating, however. It had been tossed back up to $1.1330 in early trading but was last back below as 1.1230.

"The macro duo of the FOMC and Greece continue to create jitters - it will be a daily theme for the next month ... in the case of the Fed, the next three to four months," Evan Lucas, market strategist at IG (LSE: IGG.L - news) in Melbourne, wrote.

Emerging markets continued to suffer too, especially from the prospect of higher U.S. rates which make their own interest rates relatively less attractive for global investors and can play havoc with currencies.

Emerging stocks fell 0.8 percent and were on the brink of erasing all year-to-date gains while hard currency emerging debt spreads over U.S. Treasuries approached 400 bps for the first time since early April.

Among the highlights, China's high-flying stocks lost some altitude with a 3 percent tumble and eastern Europe was feeling the heat over Greece.

The dollar had also received a small lift after Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said his remarks on the yen last week were not an assessment of nominal exchange rates. Kuroda had caused a sharp drop in the dollar last week when he told parliament the yen was already "very weak".

In the main commodity markets U.S. crude oil rose as a tropical storm hit the coast of oil-producing Texas. U.S. crude was up 1 percent at 60.14 a barrel, paring the previous day's losses suffered on Greek debt angst. Brent climbed 0.5 percent to $65.25 a barrel.

Global economy-sensitive metal copper was stuck near a three-month low at $5,787.50 a tonne, while traditional safe-haven gold retained most of its recent gains as it hovered at $1,183 an ounce. ($1 = 0.8872 euros) (Additional reporting by Shinichi Saoshiro in Tokyo; Editing by Peter Graff)