NEW YORK/ LONDON, April 11 (Reuters) - A gauge of global equities slipped on Thursday while Treasury yields edged higher as investors sought clues on the potential for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts in the latest inflation data while the European Central Bank signaled rate cuts soon.
A day after March's hot Consumer Price Index (CPI) reading sent equity investors to the exits, Thursday's data showed U.S. producer prices rose moderately last month with a cost of services increase blunted by falling goods prices. The producer price index (PPI) for final demand rose 0.2% versus economist expectations for 0.3% and a February increase of 0.6%.
But New York's Fed President John Williams said on Thursday that while the central bank has made considerable progress with inflation, it does not appear to need rate cuts yet. Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin said the Fed is not yet where it wants to be to have confidence that price pressure will keep easing.
"(Thursday) morning's PPI report came in softer than expected, lessening the blow of the disappointing CPI report (on Wednesday), which obviously shows that progress on disinflation is stalling," said Emily Roland, co-chief investment strategist at John Hancock Investment.
But while noting that the Fed will have two more months of data to look at before it makes a rate decision in June, Roland said that "markets are getting the memo that the Fed is likely not going to be able to cut anytime soon" and that "it's tough to see the case to cut rates."
On Thursday, traders were betting on a 79% chance that the Fed will keep rates unchanged in June, slightly lower than Wednesday and a 49.7% chance they will stay the same in July compared with 57.6% on Wednesday, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool, opens new tab.
At 11:59 a.m. (1559 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI), opens new tab fell 86.84 points, or 0.23%, to 38,371.49, the S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab gained 8.59 points, or 0.17%, to 5,169.23 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), opens new tab gained 110.52 points, or 0.68%, to 16,280.25.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe (.MIWD00000PUS), opens new tab fell 0.78 points, or 0.10%, to 772.00. The STOXX 600 (.STOXX), opens new tab index fell 0.44%.
U.S. Treasuries yields were mixed after the PPI data, with two-year yields hitting 5% for the first time since November and 10-year yields also touching their highest point since November after falling earlier.
The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes rose 1.2 basis points to 4.572%, from 4.56% late on Wednesday, while the 30-year bond yield rose 3.1 basis points to 4.6651% from 4.634%.
The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, fell 2.3 basis points to 4.946%, from 4.969% late on Wednesday.
In currencies, trading was choppy with the greenback last rising against a basket of major currencies after falling earlier following the lower-than-expected PPI data.
The dollar index gained 0.15% at 105.36, with the euro down 0.2% at $1.0719. Against the Japanese yen , the dollar strengthened 0.01% at 153.2.
Oil prices fell following a major U.S. refinery outage and investor digestion of inflation data while worries that Iran might attack Israeli interests kept crude near six-month highs.
U.S. crude lost 0.92% to $85.41 a barrel and Brent fell to $89.94 per barrel, down 0.59% on the day.
Gold prices firmed after the inflation data while persistent geopolitical concerns added to the metal's shine.
Spot gold added 0.5% to $2,344.39 an ounce. U.S. gold futures gained 0.3% to $2,336.70 an ounce.
Reporting by Sinéad Carew in New York, Marc Jones; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Will Dunham
