GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks fall as virus worries weigh; U.S. dollar near flat

* U.S. stocks lower in early New York trading
* Gold prices rally
* U.S. bond prices fall

(Updates with early U.S. markets; changes dateline; previous
LONDON)
By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK, Jan 4 (Reuters) - A global stock index fell on
Monday, the first trading day of the new year, pulling back
after recent gains to record highs, and the U.S. dollar was near
flat.
U.S. stocks were down sharply by late morning in New York,
with the S&P 500 nearly 1.4% lower.
Stocks hit records early in the session as investors focused
on the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines.
But investors quickly turned cautious over the path of the
virus, which continues to spread amid the discovery of a new
variant.
The outcome of runoff elections on Tuesday in Georgia for
two U.S. Senate seats added to investor nervousness.
"It's a small reversal, but I think people came in the
morning to start the year with some optimism, but the cloudy
political picture in the U.S. is weighing down the markets a
little bit," said Rick Meckler, partner at Cherry Lane
Investments in New Vernon, New Jersey.
MSCI's All-Country World Index .MIWD00000PUS , which tracks
stocks across 49 countries, was down 0.6% after earlier hitting
a record high.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 535.35 points,
or 1.75%, to 30,071.13, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 59.08 points, or
1.57%, to 3,696.99 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped
183.74 points, or 1.43%, to 12,704.55.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX rose 0.687%, while
Britain's FTSE 100 index .FTSE was up 1.7% on its first
post-Brexit trading day.
Britain began vaccinating its population with the COVID-19
shot developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca AZN.L on
Monday. With the lag between a full vaccine rollout and a global
economic recovery, investors will count on central banks to keep
money cheap.
Minutes of the Federal Reserve's December meeting are due on
Wednesday and should offer more detail on discussions about
making the Fed's forward policy guidance more explicit and the
chance of a further increase in asset buying this year.
Friday brings the U.S. December payroll report.
In currencies, the U.S. dollar recovered after falling to
its lowest level since April 2018.
The dollar index =USD rose 0.088%, with the euro EUR= up
1.03% to $1.2262.
The Japanese yen strengthened 0.03% versus the greenback at
103.17 per dollar, while Sterling GBP= was last trading at
$1.3561, down 0.80% on the day.
Gold prices XAU= were up more than 2%, U.S. crude futures
CLc1 and Brent futures LCOc1 were lower.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes US10YT=RR last fell 4/32
in price to yield 0.9248%.

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World stocks vs virus https://tmsnrt.rs/3b64h15
2020 asset performance http://tmsnrt.rs/2yaDPgn
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