GLOBAL MARKETS-World shares mixed amid hopes for business pickup, weak data; oil slides

(Adds U.S. market open, byline, dateline; previous LONDON)
* Grim PMI data in Europe

By Herbert Lash and Tom Arnold
NEW YORK/LONDON, May 6 (Reuters) - World equity markets were
mixed on Wednesday, with U.S. indexes seesawing amid hopes for a
pickup in business activity and as oil prices slumped with
demand low after a rise in U.S. crude stockpiles last week to
three-year highs.
The safe-haven Japanese yen and dollar rose after economic
data showed U.S. private payrolls tumbled last month to a record
20.2 million, German industrial orders fell at a record pace in
March and UK construction activity crashed to an all-time low in
April.
The dollar index =USD rose 0.359%, with the euro EUR=
down 0.36% to $1.0799. The Japanese yen JPY= strengthened
0.49% versus the greenback at 106.10 per dollar.
Retail sales in the euro zone also suffered their largest
decline on record in March. Demand has collapsed globally because of the coronavirus
epidemic and many investors viewed the prospect of a swift
recovery as bleak, despite the gradual opening of economies
worldwide that has given hope to other investors.
Trying to gauge economic growth in light of the pandemic has
sent investors scurrying for new insights, especially in China,
where the economy was first to re-open, said Yousef Abbasi,
global market strategist at INTL FCStone Financial Inc in New
York.
"When are you going to see those businesses retake capacity
comparable to the last year? That's the big question," Abbasi
said. "It really is about where you think demand is going to
come back or where you think demand never really dropped off."
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX lost 0.37% while
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS shed
just 0.07%.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell
49.71 points, or 0.21%, to 23,833.38. The S&P 500 .SPX lost
0.82 points, or 0.03%, to 2,867.62 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC added 84.88 points, or 0.96%, to 8,894.00.
The blue-chip Dow Jones index came under pressure from
declines in oil giant Chevron Corp CVX.N as crude prices fell.
The S&P 500 energy sub-index .SPNY dropped 2.2%.
General Motors Co GM.N jumped 5% after the automaker
topped first-quarter profit expectations and outlined plans for
a May 18 restart of most of its North American plants.
CVS Health Corp CVS.N gained 2.3% after reporting a
better-than-expected quarterly profit. Oil slid below $30 a barrel as crude stocks rose and
gasoline demand remained below normal seasonal levels, snapping
a six-day winning streak for Brent futures that helped the
global benchmark almost double in price from a 21-year low on
April 22.
U.S. crude inventories USOILC=ECI rose by 4.6 million
barrels in the week to May 1 to 532.2 million barrels, compared
with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 7.8
million-barrel rise. EIA/S
U.S. crude CLc1 fell 5.9% to $23.11 per barrel and Brent
LCOc1 was at $28.77, down 7.1% on the day.
Healthcare stocks .SXDP rose in Europe on the back of
better-than-expected quarterly results from Denmark's Novo
Nordisk NOVOb.CO and German dialysis specialist Fresenius
Medical Care FMEG.DE . "Earnings season is not great, but it's really the issue of
the virus and the end of the lockdown, and sentiment towards
that will push the market," said Francois Savary, chief
investment officer at Swiss wealth manager Prime Partners.
China opened for the first time since Thursday and reversed
early losses, sending its blue-chip index .CSI300 up 0.6%.
In a move seen by analysts as offering a olive branch to
Washington amid the trade tensions, China's central bank set the
yuan CNY= at a broadly neutral midpoint. The exchange rate has
been a contentious point in China-U.S. ties.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly taken aim at
China as the source of the pandemic and warned it would be held
to account. On Tuesday, he urged China to be transparent about
the origins of the coronavirus, which began in the Chinese city
of Wuhan late last year. Spot gold XAU= dropped 1.1% to $1,687.10 an ounce.

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