* Traders cautious ahead of Fed, BOJ meetings this week
* Crude oil drops after report of inventory glut
* Benchmark U.S. yields hit 4-week peaks, Bunds 5-week highs
* Sterling hits two-month high as "Brexit" bets ease
(Updates market action, adds quote)
By Dion Rabouin and Richard Leong
NEW YORK, April 25 (Reuters) - U.S. stock prices fell on
Monday due to weaker oil prices and disappointing company
results, while the dollar retreated on profit-taking ahead of
central bank policy meetings in the United States and Japan
later this week.
Reluctance to make big bets in advance of these policy-maker
meetings lifted U.S. government yields to four-week peaks and
German yields to their highest in five weeks.
"This is hardly a big sell-off but we are having trouble
breaking through (to new highs on the Standard & Poor's 500
index) because of a lack of consistently good earnings and
economic data," said Rick Meckler, president of investment firm
LibertyView Capital Management in Jersey City, New Jersey.
A surprise drop in new U.S. home sales in March supported a
view of anemic U.S. economic growth, which may keep the U.S.
central bank from raising interest rates.
The Fed is widely expected to leave rates unchanged on
Wednesday, while the Bank of Japan will announce a policy update
on Thursday with some analysts forecasting it may push key rates
deeper into negative territory.
"Central banks are still the name of the game," said Jan von
Gerich, chief strategist for developed markets at Nordea in
Helsinki, Finland.
Additionally, there were signs that a three-month rally in
equity and commodity markets is cooling.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 26.51 points,
or 0.15 percent, to 17,977.24, the S&P 500 .SPX declined 3.79
points, or 0.18 percent, to 2,087.8 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC shed 10.44 points, or 0.21 percent, to 4,895.79. .N
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index, which hit a
three-month peak last week, fell 0.6 percent to 1,364.13 points.
.EU
Tokyo's Nikkei .N225 ended 0.8 percent lower. .T
The MSCI world equity index .MIWD00000PUS , which tracks
shares in 45 nations, fell 1.05 points or 0.26 percent, to
405.87.
Lower energy prices and disappointing results and guidance
from Perrigo Co (NYSE:PRGO). PRGO.N and Xerox Corp (NYSE:XRX) XRX.N knocked the
major U.S. stock market indexes lower.
Brent oil futures LCOc1 settled down 63 cents or 1.4
percent at $44.48 a barrel, while U.S. oil futures CLc1
finished $1.09 or 2.49 percent lower at 42.64 following a report
that showed a spike in U.S. crude inventory.
A weaker dollar limited the drop in oil prices, keeping them
not far from five-month highs.
The dollar index .DXY fell 0.3 percent at 94.82. FRX/
Sterling, meanwhile, hit its highest in more than two months
as "Brexit" worries ebbed in the wake of U.S. President Barack
Obama's remarks over the weekend, urging Britain to stay in the
European Union. The pound rose 0.5 percent at $1.4477 GBP=D4
after hitting its highest since Feb. 15 in earlier trading.
GBP/
In the bond market, U.S. 10-year Treasury yields touched a
four-week high at 1.913 percent as investors awaited clues on
future interest rate increases from the Fed. The yield on
10-year German Bunds DE10YT=RR reached 0.278 percent, the
highest since mid-March.
Spot gold prices XAU= rose $5.45 or 0.44 percent, to
$1,237.36 an ounce on a weaker dollar. GOL/
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Global assets in 2016 http://reut.rs/1WAiOSC
Currencies in 2016 http://link.reuters.com/tak27s
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