GLOBAL MARKETS-High-flying stocks wait on Fed signals, Apple results

* Equities lack trend as earnings roll in, bond yields creep
up
* Fed expected to stay course but outlook is improving
* Copper comes off decade high
* Apple, Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Ford, Boeing earnings due
* Graphic: Global asset performance http://tmsnrt.rs/2yaDPgn
* Graphic: World FX rates http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
*

By Marc Jones
LONDON, April 28 (Reuters) - World shares cosied up close to
record highs and the dollar and global bond yields nudged up on
Wednesday, as traders waited to see if the U.S. Federal Reserve
utters the dreaded 'T' word later - tapering of its mass
stimulus programme.
The broad expectation is that it won't want to unsettle
markets for now, and with a packed day of corporate earnings,
economic data and U.S. President Joe Biden's first address
before a joint Congress session there was plenty
to navigate.
MSCI's broadest index of world shares .MIWD00000PUS was
sidestepping towards its best month of the year so far, with
Europe's bourses fighting for modest gains .EU and S&P 500
futures flat after Wall Street's more than 5% April spurt. .N
In the FX markets, the dollar was on course for its first
unbroken two-day run of gains of the month - April is currently
set to be its cruellest month since last July. U.S. 10-year
Treasury yields, whose swift rise earlier in the year caught
markets off guard, touched their highest in nearly two weeks at
1.647%.
"The thing that we are going to watch most closely is if the
Fed says anything along the lines of tapering of asset
purchases," said Jim Caron, a senior portfolio manager at Morgan
Stanley Investment Management.
"As long that doesn't get mentioned, we are all good," he
said, explaining that with the coronavirus pandemic still
worsening in many parts of the world, investors would view any
move towards tapering as premature.
Most Fed watchers expect Chairman Jerome Powell to repeat
the bank's recent message that its low interest rates and
support programmes will remain in place for a long time yet.
Biden will also address Congress and is likely to underscore
his administration's plans for mass infrastructure and stimulus
spending. These developments would normally be positive for stocks,
but analysts say so much economic optimism is already priced
into the equity market that it is difficult to budge equities
further from current levels.
Otherwise, Europe's traders were waiting to hear from ECB
President Christine Lagarde and other top policymakers. Economic
data releases showed an unexpected drop in Germany's GfK
consumer confidence reading for May though an
equivalent in France at least stayed steady for April.
EYED
U.S. earnings later include tech and internet giants Apple,
Facebook and Qualcomm, as well as Boeing and Ford. .N The
preliminary March reading for U.S wholesale inventories is also
due.
Facebook is expected to report a revenue rise due to online
advertising demand during the COVID pandemic, while Apple is
expected to post a more than 32% jump in revenue, driven by 5G
phone demand. .N
There was a mixed bag of earnings from Tesla TSLA.O , 3M
MMM.N , Microsoft MSFT.O , and Google-parent Alphabet
GOOGL.O on Tuesday.
In the FX markets, the dollar index rose 0.2% to 91.047
=USD , bouncing from Monday's low of 90.679, its weakest level
since March 3.
The greenback edged up slightly against the yen JPY= and
the British pound GBP=D3 , but trading is expected to be
subdued until Powell speaks after the Fed meeting.
Pound followers are also watching next week's UK regional
elections, especially in Scotland where the pro-independence SNP
and Green parties look on course to take firm control
Scotland's Holyrood parliament.
"With the pro-independence parties likely to secure a
majority in the May 6 Holyrood election, we see a 15% chance of
independence," investment bank Morgan Stanley said in a research
note to clients, adding there was a 30% chance that a new
referendum would be held. As well as the rise in Treasury yields helping the dollar
higher, break-even rates on 10-year Treasury Inflation-Protected
Securities US10YTIP=RR , a measure of expected annual inflation
for the coming decade, rose to 2.41%, the highest since 2013.
Elsewhere, the Australian dollar AUD=D3 was knocked lower
after disappointing data on consumer prices and in
the cryptocurrency market there was excitement as the European
Investment Bank said it would sell a two-year digital bond worth
100 million euros ($120 million) on the ethereum blockchain
network. Rival cryptocurrency Bitcoin BTC=BTSP edged lower to
$55,618.
In commodities, Brent crude LCOc1 futures fell a touch to
$66.40 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1
lost 0.03% to $62.92 per barrel due to worries about energy
demand.
Benchmark copper CMCU3 edged back from a decade high of
$9,965 a tonne hit on Tuesday due to some concerns about a
possible softening of demand in China, the world's top consumer
of the metal.
($1 = 0.8278 euros)

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World FX rates YTD http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
Global asset performance http://tmsnrt.rs/2yaDPgn
Global markets in April and year to date https://tmsnrt.rs/3nAA3rm
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