GLOBAL-MARKETS-Global equities tread water while dollar slips

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* Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 down 0.4%
* Investors stay on sidelines ahead of earnings
* Gold gains ground as dollar falls
* Brexit hopes boost sterling

By Matt Scuffham
NEW YORK, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Global equities treaded water
and the dollar slipped on Monday with Wall Street investors
staying on the sidelines ahead of company earnings season while
record daily coronavirus infections in Europe caused concern.
U.S. stocks fell slightly on the 33rd anniversary of the
1987 "Black Monday" crash, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average
.DJI lost 22.6% in one day, equivalent to a drop of about
6,500 points in the index today.
Investors were waiting to see how large companies due to
report later in the week such as Netflix NFLX.O and Tesla
TSLA.O fared in the latest quarter before committing funds,
said Dennis Dick, a trader at Bright Trading LLC.
"I think markets are going to lack direction for a couple of
days until we get some clarity for how these earnings are going
to look," he said.
Investors are also waiting to see whether the final debate
between US President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger
Joe Biden will shift the trajectory of the election.
Even news of potential progress towards a COVID-19 vaccine
was only having a muted impact. Drugmaker Pfizer Inc PFE.N
said on Friday it could have a coronavirus vaccine ready in the
United States by the end of this year. "The market is becoming numb to it to a certain extent
because we're getting vaccine headlines every other day," said
Dick.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was down 100.05
points, or 0.35%, at 28,506.26, the S&P 500 .SPX was down 15.01
points, or 0.43%, at 3,468.80. The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was
down 36.10 points, or 0.31%, at 11,635.45. The dollar edged lower as investors revived bets that an
agreement in Washington on a fiscal stimulus package could be
reached ahead of the upcoming U.S. election.
The move out of the safe-haven greenback came after House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that, while differences remained with
President Donald Trump's administration on a wide-ranging
coronavirus relief package, she believed legislation could be
pushed through before Election Day.
With investors' risk appetite rising, the dollar index
=USD was down 0.41%, giving back some of its 0.7% rise from
last week when a global surge in coronavirus cases and an
impasse over the stimulus package stoked caution.
Gold rose as the dollar retreated and expectations for a
stimulus deal bolstered bullion's appeal as an inflation hedge.
Oil futures fell on Libya's plan to boost output.
European shares closed lower as surging COVID-19 cases
raised the possibility of further economic restrictions.
Parts of the UK were put into lockdown and France imposed
curfews. The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX closed down 0.3%.
Trading volumes in Europe were sharply lower due to a
technical glitch at exchange operator Euronext, which led to
trading activity being halted in the Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon
and Paris bourses. In Asia, investors took comfort from China's third-quarter
economic recovery as consumers shook off their coronavirus
caution.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.5% for a second straight day of gains,
paring back following third-quarter gross domestic product data
from China.
In currency markets, sterling rose after the European Union
said it is ready to intensify talks towards a deal on future
trade ties with Britain. Sterling rallied back to near $1.30
levels against the dollar on Monday, up 0.5% at $1.2980 while
the euro EUR= meanwhile traded 0.3% higher at $1.1756.
The yuan reached a fresh 1-1/2-year high against the dollar,
while the U.S. dollar =USD slipped 0.4% to 93.295 against a
basket of six major currencies. USD/
Spot gold XAU= rose 0.4% to $1,906.36 per ounce. U.S. gold
futures GCv1 settled up 0.3% to $1,911.70.
Brent crude LCOc1 futures fell 0.7% to $42.62 a barrel. U.S.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures settling 0.1%
lower at $40.83 per barrel.

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