GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks struggle with muddled government pandemic responses

(Updates with close of U.S. market)
By David Randall and David Henry
NEW YORK, April 24 (Reuters) - Global equity benchmarks
struggled on Friday as some U.S. states began reopening
businesses despite the disapproval of health experts, and as the
European Union put off addressing details of its new economic
rescue plan.
Safe-haven government bonds edged up while the dollar
slipped, reflecting the market's unsettled direction. Oil's
recovery lost some steam during the day.
MSCI's All Country World Index .MIWD00000PUS rose 0.45% as
losses in Europe weighed on U.S. equity gains. The index is on
pace for its worst weekly performance since March.
Investors are watching for health data from early-opening
states to learn if they acted too quickly, said Stan Shipley,
macro research analyst for Evercore ISI.
"The market is kind of stuck here," Shipley said. "I don't
think it will move far from here until we see that we can reopen
the economy."
As the U.S. coronavirus death toll topped 50,000, Georgia
pushed ahead with its plan to become the first state to allow an
array of small businesses to reopen on Friday despite the
disapproval of President Donald Trump and health experts.
On Wall Street, stocks got an afternoon lift from big
market-cap techs Microsoft MSFT.O and Apple AAPL.O , which
rose as much as 1.3% and 2.6%, respectively.
The S&P 500 .SPX gained 38.94 points, or 1.39%, to
2,836.74 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 139.77 points,
or 1.65%, to 8,634.52.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 260.01 points,
or 1.11%, to 23,775.27, despite Boeing Co BA.N falling more
than 5% on a report the planemaker was planning to cut 787
Dreamliner output by about half.
The S&P ended the week down 12.2 percent for the year after
having recovered half of what it lost from its Feb. 19 high to
its March 23 low.
EU leaders agreed on Thursday to build a trillion-euro
emergency fund to help recover from the coronavirus outbreak,
while leaving divisive details until the summer. French President Emmanuel Macron said differences continued
between EU governments over whether the fund should be
transferring grant money, or simply making loans.
"The risk exists that a concrete decision on the creation of
the recovery fund may not occur before September, thereby not
being operational before early 2021," Goldman Sachs European
economist Alain Durre wrote in a note.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX lost 1.10%.
Investors remained in perceived safe-haven government bonds.
Benchmark 10-year notes US10YT=RR last rose 6/32 in price to
yield 0.5914%, from 0.611% on Thursday.
The dollar index =USD fell 0.269%, but the euro EUR=
rose 0.34% to $1.0813.
The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a $484
billion bill to expand federal loans to small businesses and
hospitals overwhelmed by patients. Trump, who signed the bill into law on Friday, said late
Thursday he may need to extend social distancing guidelines to
early summer.
Oil prices lost momentum during the day but broadly retained
their recovery from this week's price collapse, which pushed
U.S. crude futures into negative territory for the first time
ever. Prices were supported by producers such as Kuwait saying
they would move to cut output. O/R
U.S. crude, CLc1 which had been up as much as 5% on
Friday, was up 3.52% at $17.08 per barrel and Brent LCOc1 was
at $21.84, up 2.39% on the day.

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Global assets http://tmsnrt.rs/2jvdmXl
Global currencies vs. dollar http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
Emerging markets http://tmsnrt.rs/2ihRugV
MSCI All Country Wolrd Index Market Cap http://tmsnrt.rs/2EmTD6j
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