(Adds U.S. market open; changes dateline; previous LONDON)
* Wall St falls on disappointing earnings, including Ford Motor (NYSE:F)
* Dollar falls in biggest drop in almost 2 months
* Oil down 2 pct, hits 3-month lows on reported Cushing build
By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, July 28 (Reuters) - Global stock markets fell on Thursday in the wake of disappointing U.S. and European corporate results while the dollar took its biggest tumble in almost two months after the U.S. Federal Reserve left unclear when it will raise interest rates.
Expectations of further stimulus in Japan have dominated currency trading in recent weeks and overshadowed the U.S. central bank's policy-setting statement on Wednesday, when the Fed indicated it was in no rush to raise interest rates.
Equity markets retreated after Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L in Europe reported a more than 70 percent fall in quarterly profit that was well below analysts' estimates.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 was dragged down by Ford Motor F.N , which posted poor second-quarter profit. are struggling to determine whether earnings will be strong enough to warrant stock prices that are close to being fully valued, said Rick Meckler, president of hedge fund LibertyView Capital Management LLC in Jersey City, New Jersey.
"Today the focus is a little bit on some disappointing numbers, something like a Ford. Although Facebook numbers were really good - great in fact," Meckler said.
Ford F.N reported weaker-than-expected profit and declared the U.S. auto industry's long recovery was at an end, sending its stock and shares of other auto companies into a tailspin. Ford's stock fell 9.65 percent to $12.51.
However, Facebook FB.O opened at an all-time high of $128.31 after the company reported quarterly results that handily beat analysts' estimates on Wednesday. all-country stock index .MIWD00000PUS slid 0.07 percent and the pan-regional FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index in Europe fell 0.75 percent to 1,341.65.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 74.03 points, or 0.4 percent, to 18,398.14. The S&P 500 .SPX slid 3.51 points, or 0.16 percent, to 2,163.07 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 1.62 points, or 0.03 percent, to 5,141.43.
The yen gained against the dollar as investors feared the Bank of Japan will not meet high expectations for a large stimulus package when it concludes a two-day meeting on Friday.
Concerns about volatility around the BOJ's announcement have sent the price of hedging against big swings in the dollar/yen exchange rate over the next 24 hours above 50 percent for the first time since late 2008. JPYONO= dollar fell 0.58 percent to 104.78 yen JPY= . The dollar index .DXY , which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, fell 0.46 percent to 96.611. The euro EUR= rose 0.28 percent to $1.1086.
U.S. bond prices rose, even after the Fed left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, as expected.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes US10YT=RR gained 1/32 in price to yield 1.5113 percent.
In Europe, investors bought more than 8 billion euros of new debt from Italy, a day before Rome faces a crunch health check of its banks.
The extra yield investors demand to hold Italy's debt hit its highest since February 2015 this week at 14 basis points. 10-year yields held close to Wednesday's closing levels, showing little impact from the Fed's decision to keep rates on hold.
Oil prices fell nearly 2 percent, hitting three-month lows, after a fresh stock build at the delivery hub for U.S. futures added to concerns that producers were pumping more than needed.
Brent crude oil LCOc1 fell 69 cents to $42.78 a barrel. U.S. light crude CLc1 declined 65 cents at $41.27.
(Addition reporting by Nigel Stephenson; Editing by Tom Heneghan and Dan Grebler)