(ADVISORY-There will be no Global Markets report from New York
on Friday, March 25 due to the Good Friday holida))
* Another Fed official joins chorus on tightening risk
* Dollar heads for 5th day of gains, best run since April
* Drop in oil and commodities hits risk sentiment, stocks
(Adds close of European markets)
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, March 24 (Reuters) - Global equity markets and oil
prices declined on Thursday and the dollar built on a recent
string of gains after another Federal Reserve official talked up
the chance of more than one hike in U.S interest rates this
year.
The dollar .DXY climbed for a fifth day, adding 0.12
percent to 96.161 against a basket of major currencies. The
streak would be the longest for the dollar in nearly a year and
would give the greenback its first weekly rise in a month.
The gains were further supported by remarks of St. Louis Fed
President James Bullard, who joined a chorus of officials who
have recently highlighted the chance of at least two rate rises
this year, with the first perhaps as soon as April.
The dollar's strength and record crude stockpiles weighed on
oil prices, as U.S. crude was back under $40 a barrel and Brent
on track for its biggest weekly drop in two months.
"The market is just backing and filling here after a pretty
big move off the bottom after a rough start to the year," said
Doug Foreman, chief investment officer at Kayne Anderson Rudnick
Investment Management in Los Angeles.
"It's a little tired short-term, you are going to get a
little bit of a breather here and the Fed becomes a convenient
excuse for that."
The rally in crude prices to above $40 a barrel had been a
big factor in the equity market advance in recent weeks, helping
the benchmark S&P 500 .SPX climb more than 12 percent off its
Feb. 11 low.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 82.56 points,
or 0.47 percent, to 17,420.03, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 9.96
points, or 0.49 percent, to 2,026.75 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC dropped 16.16 points, or 0.34 percent, to 4,752.70.
Volume across markets was light, with many closed on Friday
ahead of the Easter holiday.
U.S. crude CLc1 slumped 1.6 percent to $39.16 a barrel,
after sliding 4 percent on Wednesday. Brent LCOc1 was last
down 1 percent at $40.08.
The oil pullback has pressured U.S. and European equities
this week, with both the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index
.FTEU3 suffering its worst drop in six weeks and the S&P set
for its worst weekly drop in seven.
MSCI's index of world shares .MIWD00000PUS , down 0.82
percent on the session, was off 1.7 percent for the week.
The stronger dollar and softer oil prices were reflected in
data on U.S. durable goods orders, which showed a drop in
February, while weekly jobless claims continued to point to a
solid labor market.
Gold XAU= edged up 0.11 percent to $1,221.20 an ounce,
after hitting its lowest since late February at $1,212.20 but
remained on track for its biggest weekly drop since November.
Copper, down about 2 percent for the week, was off 0.2
percent at $4,9312 a tonne.
Benchmark U.S. 10-year notes US10YT=RR were last down 6/32
in price to yield 1.8948 percent, up from 1.875 percent
Wednesday.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Global assets in 2015 http://link.reuters.com/dub25t
Commodities performance http://link.reuters.com/rac73w
Currencies vs dollar http://link.reuters.com/tak27s
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(Editing by Nick Zieminski and Bernadette Baum)