NEW YORK/LONDON, May 8 (Reuters) - A gauge of global equity performance faltered on Wednesday as investors await new inflation data to assess the course of potential Federal Reserve interest rate cuts, while the dollar edged higher on expectations of U.S. economic out-performance.
European stocks rose, boosted by company earnings, but stocks on Wall Street slid, bogged down by growth stocks including Tesla, and a weak second-quarter forecast from Uber.
The yen weakened for a third day, keeping investors wary of currency intervention from Japanese authorities, while crude oil traded near two-month lows. In Europe, the Swedish crown came under pressure after the central bank cut interest rates and said it expected two more cuts this year,
The main concern among traders and investors is whether inflation is on course to reach the U.S. central bank's 2% target and when Fed Chair Jerome Powell might cut rates.
"The market is still very much waiting for the CPI report next Wednesday. We're basically stuck in a bit of a range here until we get data," said Gennadiy Goldberg, head of U.S. rates strategy at TD Securities in New York.
"Investors are still very cautious at this point. They don't want to over extrapolate from one data point or a couple of developments," he said.
"The takeaway from last week was that Powell was not quite as hawkish as many investors were setting him up to be."
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe (.MIWD00000PUS), opens new tab fell 0.26%, while Europe's pan-regional STOXX 600 index (.STOXX), opens new tab rose 0.39%. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI), opens new tab rose 0.04%, the S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab lost 0.12% and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), opens new tab slid 0.23%.
Global stocks fell sharply in April as strong U.S. economic data caused investors to rein in their bets on rate cuts from the Fed and, by extension, other major central banks this year.
But stocks have rallied in May, partly encouraged by last week's nonfarm payrolls, which showed a cooling in the hot U.S. labor market but remained stronger than pre-pandemic data.
"The rebound in equities has been driven by a strong first-quarter earnings season," said Carl Hammer, global head of asset allocation at lender SEB.
"Having nearly priced out prospects of a Fed rate cut this year we are back at almost two cuts before year-end, (also) giving relief to the equity market."
In currency markets, the yen dropped 0.56% to 155.54 per dollar even after Bank of Japan governor Kazuo Ueda said the central bank may take monetary policy action if currency falls affect prices significantly.
Japan has intervened to boost the currency from its lowest level in 34 years in recent days, according to traders and analysts, keeping the market alert for further swings.
The dollar index , which tracks the currency against six peers, rose 0.08% to 105.50, though it remained around 1% below a 5-1/2 month high touched in April. The euro was down 0.02% at $1.075.
U.S. Treasury yields have fallen in recent days as traders have moved to price back in two rate cuts from the Fed this year, having seen one as most likely in the middle of April. The 10-year yield, which moves inversely to its price, was 1.8 basis points higher at 4.48%.
Oil prices fell as industry data showed a rise in U.S. crude and fuel inventories and as the dollar strengthened, signaling that demand for oil is coming under pressure.
U.S. crude fell 0.52% to $77.97 a barrel and Brent slid to $82.66 per barrel, down 0.6% on the day.
Spot gold added 0.04% to $2,314.81 an ounce, and bitcoin fell 0.95% at $62,370.75.
Reporting by Herbert Lash, additional reporting by Harry Robertson in London and Kevin Buckland in Tokyo; Editing by Jacqueline Wong, Toby Chopra and Angus MacSwan
