GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks steady, U.S. yields slip with Fed meeting on tap

* MSCI world shares index little changed
* Travel, airline shares gain in Europe, US
* 10-yr U.S. bond yields pull back from 13-month peak
* U.S. dollar rises as caution reigns ahead of Fed

(Updates with latest prices, fresh comment)
By Lewis Krauskopf
NEW YORK, March 15 (Reuters) - World stock markets were
little changed on Monday and benchmark U.S. bond yields slipped
from 13-month highs as investors looked to the U.S. central
bank's meeting later in the week.
Wall Street's main indexes were higher in afternoon trade
after the benchmark S&P 500 set record highs last week, while
European shares were flat after rising to pre-pandemic levels,
with travel shares gaining in both regions.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS
gained 0.01%.
The Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting ending on
Wednesday is in focus with rising bond yields and concerns over
a pickup in inflation. Fed policymakers are expected this week
to forecast that the U.S. economy will grow in 2021 at the
fastest rate in decades. "I think there is still a bias toward accelerating economic
growth," said David Joy, chief market strategist at Ameriprise
Financial.
"Beyond that, it's still pretty tentative," Joy said. "It
seems like it is going to be that way until we get to the Fed
meeting on Wednesday and see what they have to say about the
economy."
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose
36.31 points, or 0.11%, to 32,814.95, the S&P 500 .SPX gained
1.59 points, or 0.04%, to 3,944.93 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC added 39.53 points, or 0.3%, to 13,359.40. Airline shares .SPCOMAIR rose as the companies pointed to
concrete signs of an industry recovery as a slowing COVID-19
pandemic helps leisure bookings. Germany, France and Italy said they would hit pause on
AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) AZN.L COVID-19 shots after several countries
reported possible serious side-effects, throwing Europe's
already struggling vaccination campaign into disarray.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX was flat, after
touching its highest level since February 2020, with travel
stocks .SXTP gaining. "We have considerable amount of vaccines now and the Astra
news should not affect sentiment much," said Art Hogan, chief
market strategist at National Securities.
The $1.9 trillion stimulus President Joe Biden signed into
law last week, expected improving economic data and the rollout
of COVID-19 vaccinations supported gains, even as investors were
attuned to the outlook for monetary policy.
Longer-term U.S. Treasury yields fell as the market looked
ahead to the Fed meeting and the latest government debt
auctions. Benchmark 10-year notes US10YT=RR last rose 9/32 in price
to yield 1.6055%, from 1.635% late on Friday.
Rising inflation expectations could prompt the Federal Open
Market Committee to signal it will start raising rates sooner
than expected.
"Following the fiscal stimulus packages it is inevitable
that Fed GDP forecasts will be revised up, and some FOMC members
might think rates will have to move higher sooner than they
anticipated last December," economists at ANZ said.
In currencies trading, the dollar gained as traders cut
their bearish bets on the greenback to four-month lows amid the
recent rise in U.S. Treasury yields. The dollar index =USD rose 0.191%, with the euro EUR=
down 0.28% to $1.1922.
Oil prices slipped, pulling back from earlier gains fostered
on strong Chinese economic news, on concerns about potential
U.S. tax increases to pay for infrastructure spending.
U.S. crude CLc1 recently fell 0.46% to $65.31 per barrel
and Brent LCOc1 was at $68.86, down 0.52% on the day.

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