CORRECTED-GLOBAL MARKETS-Dollar hits 8-month high on rate views, metals sink

(Corrects Brent settlement price to $44.83, not $45.83, in
second to last paragraph)
* Base metals prices fall again as dollar gains
* Pfizer set to buy Allergan (N:AGN_pa)
* Commodities index hits 13-year low before recovering

By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK, Nov 23 (Reuters) - The dollar rose to an
eight-month high on Monday amid heightened expectations that the
U.S. Federal Reserve might raise interest rates next month,
driving down the prices of copper, gold and other metals.
World equity markets slipped, with U.S. stocks ending
slightly lower in quiet trading after a week of strong gains.
Worries that a buoyant dollar could discourage producers
from cutting supply despite weak demand weighed on base metals
prices. Copper fell to its cheapest in six months before
recovering.
The dollar index .DXY , which measures the greenback
against six major currencies, rose as much as 0.4 percent,
touching 100.000, an eight-month high not far from this year's
peak of 100.390.
San Francisco Fed President John Williams on Saturday cited
a "strong case" for raising rates when Fed policymakers meet
next month, as long as U.S. economic data does not disappoint.
His comments overshadowed Monday's lackluster U.S.
manufacturing and housing reports.
"For him to acknowledge that there's a strong case for
higher rates next month is a strong signal to the market that
there's increasing consensus at the Fed that rates are likely to
rise next month," said Omer Esiner, chief market analyst at
Commonwealth Foreign Exchange in Washington.
A big healthcare deal failed to impress U.S. stock
investors. Pfizer's PFE.N announcement of what is expected to
be the biggest-ever healthcare deal pushed its shares down 2.6
percent, making it one of the biggest drags on the S&P. Target
company Allergan AGN.N closed 3.4 percent lower after the $160
billion deal announcement.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 31.13 points,
or 0.17 percent, to 17,792.68, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 2.58
points, or 0.12 percent, to 2,086.59 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC dropped 2.44 points, or 0.05 percent, to 5,102.48.
"We're coming off a very strong performance, a market that
has shown tremendous resilience and a strong propensity of
coming back," said Andre Bakhos, managing director at Janlyn
Capital LLC in Bernardsville, New Jersey.
The MSCI index of global stock markets .MIWD00000PUS fell
0.3 percent, and a broad gauge of European stocks .FTEU3 ended
down 0.3 percent, pressured by commodity-related losses.
Three-month copper CMCU3 in London hit a low of $4,443.50
a tonne before recovering to end at $4,490, down 2 percent. LME
nickel CMNI3 fell as far as $8,175 before ending down 5
percent at $8,300. Spot gold XAU= was down 0.9
percent at $1,068 an ounce. Silver hit its lowest level in more
than six years.
The Thomson Reuters Core Commodity CRB index .TRJCRB hit
its lowest since November 2002 before bouncing back. It was last
down 0.2 percent.
Crude oil prices ended mixed. Supply worries offset Saudi
Arabia's pledge to work on price stability. Brent futures
LCOc1 settled up 17 cents at $44.83 a barrel, while U.S. crude
CLc1 finished down 15 cents at $41.75.
U.S. Treasuries prices rose as a solid two-year note auction
renewed demand for longer-dated bonds. Benchmark 10-year notes
US10YT=RR were up 4/32 in price to yield 2.246 percent, down
nearly 2 basis points.

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Global assets in 2015 http://link.reuters.com/dub25t
Currencies vs dollar http://link.reuters.com/tak27s
Commodities performance http://link.reuters.com/rac73w
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