* Stocks rise on economic optimism, soothing central banks
* Yield on 10-year Treasury jumps to one-year high
* Oil eyeing $70 per barrel, copper near decade peak
* Dow hits record high, big tech still losers
* GameStop more than doubles in price in trading frenzy
* Reuters Live Markets blog: LIVE/
* Graphic: Global asset performance http://tmsnrt.rs/2yaDPgn
* Graphic: World FX rates http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
By Marc Jones
LONDON, Feb 25 (Reuters) - World stocks headed back towards
record highs with a third day of gains and the dollar dropped to
a three-year low on Thursday, after top Federal Reserve and
European Central Bank officials took aim at rising bond market
yields.
There was a lot to keep tabs on. A renewed retail frenzy
re-ignited the likes of GameStop, bets on $70 a barrel oil and a
decade high in copper prices drove a commodity currency rally
/FRX and bond yields were still rising too. GVD/EUR
A near 1.9% jump in oil and gas shares .SXEP ensured
European markets followed Asia's overnight gains .T .SS .
MSCI's main world index, which spans 50 countries
.MIWD00000PUS , was up 0.5%.
"There are two clear stories now" said CMC Markets senior
analyst Michael Hewson. "You have the concerns about rising
yields and they are continuing to move higher today, and then
you have got an economic recovery story, which is helping lift
the more moderately-valued parts of the market."
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that
U.S. rates could remain low for years, while ECB board member
Isabel Schnabel was out early on Thursday saying it would fight
any big increases in inflation-adjusted market rates.
"A too-abrupt increase in real interest rates on the back of
improving global growth prospects could jeopardise the economic
recovery," she said. "Therefore, we are monitoring financial
market developments closely."
But bond markets are still not playing ball. Ten-year German
Bund yields climbed 3 basis points in early trading. U.S.
10-year Treasury yields were near one-year highs at 1.42%
US10YT=RR and on course for the biggest monthly rise since
Donald Trump's 2016 U.S. election victory jolted markets.
In the FX markets, the safe-haven U.S. dollar slumped near
three-year lows as the Fed's stance, ongoing progress with COVID
vaccination programmes and commodity market uplift boosted
riskier currencies.
The Australian and Canadian dollars both hit three-year
highs of $0.7978 AUD=D4 and C$1.2503 CAD=D4 per U.S. dollar
respectively.
The euro touched a one-month high of $1.2183 EUR= . The
safe-haven yen and Swiss franc both weakened JPY= .
"It is pretty clear that there is a pretty strong
concentration in the commodity currencies," said Saxo Bank's
John Hardy. "Even with emerging markets you are seeing it to a
degree," he added, pointing to how big energy importers like
Turkey's lira had faded.
MARATHON NOT A SPRINT
Crude oil climbed to 13-month highs CLc1 LCOc1 after
U.S. government data on Wednesday showed a drop in crude output
as a deep freeze in Texas disrupted production last week. O/R
Copper prices CMCU3 steadied near $9,500 a tonne in
London. It's now at its highest level in almost a decade and
could log its biggest monthly gains in 15 years this month.
In a possible sign of a renewed retail-driven frenzy in
equity markets, GameStop's GME.N Frankfurt-listed shares
GMEa.F GME.N trebled as they opened on Thursday,
overshooting the videogame retailer's 100% surge on Wall Street
overnight.
Other so-called "stonks" - an intentional misspelling of
"stocks" - favoured by retail traders on sites such as Reddit's
WallStreetBets had also leapt again, although explanations for
the moves were tenuous.
Some online stocks watchers had even pointed to a picture
posted by an activist GameStop investor of a McDonald's ice
cream cone with a frog emoji as a cryptic sign. "It's a marathon, not a sprint. Whatever happens resist the
urge to sell. The longer we hold the higher it goes," said
@catchme1fyoucan, one user in Italy of the retail trading
platform eToro, in a discussion on GameStop.
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Emerging markets http://tmsnrt.rs/2ihRugV
Global asset performance http://tmsnrt.rs/2yaDPgn
Up and away: global bond yields on the rise https://tmsnrt.rs/3kesTqW
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