* Wall Street in check amid trade talk, tepid earnings
* Dollar on track for fifth straight session of gains
* U.S. 10-year yield retreats from 7-year peak
* Crude pauses after reaching 2014 high
By Lewis Krauskopf
NEW YORK, May 18 (Reuters) - Political uncertainty in Italy weighed on the country's stocks and bonds as well as the euro on Friday, while trade concerns and tepid corporate earnings kept Wall Street in check.
The U.S. dollar's rally continued, rising for a fifth straight session against a basket of currencies.
Investors were digesting moves this week of 10-year benchmark U.S. Treasury yields breaking above 3.1 percent and oil prices topping $80 a barrel. On Friday, oil markets took a breather while the 10-year bond yield retreated from a near-seven year peak.
A volatile week for Italian markets continued as two anti-establishment parties pledged to increase spending in a deal to form a new coalition government.
Yields on Italy's 10-year bond IT10YT=RR rose to its highest point in more than seven months, while the country's stocks .FTMIB slumped 1.5 percent. euro EUR= was down 0.21 percent to $1.1768, on track for a fifth session of declines.
"The possibility of a eurosceptic government in Rome is shaking investor confidence ... at this point a larger fiscal deficit and greater bond issuance (in Italy) does seem likely," said David Madden, a strategist at CMC Markets.
Major European stock markets were broadly lower and the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 lost 0.32 percent.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 36.48 points, or 0.15 percent, to 24,750.46, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 1.86 points, or 0.07 percent, to 2,718.27 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 3.64 points, or 0.05 percent, to 7,378.83.
A disappointing report by Applied Materials AMAT.O weighed on chip stocks. were watching developments in trade talks between the United States and China. On Friday, China denied it had offered a package to slash the U.S. trade deficit by up to $200 billion. On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump said China and other countries had become "very spoiled" on trade. think that has the market trying to figure out what is exactly happening in D.C. as it relates to trade,” said Robert Pavlik, chief investment strategist at SlateStone Wealth LLC in New York.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS shed 0.20 percent.
U.S. 10-year Treasury yields declined from a near seven-year high as buyers emerged following a bond market selloff earlier this week spurred by worries about growing inflation and government borrowing. 10-year notes US10YT=RR last rose 8/32 in price to yield 3.0818 percent, from 3.109 percent late on Thursday.
The dollar index .DXY rose 0.22 percent.
Brent oil prices were little changed but were on track for a sixth straight week of gains, boosted by strong demand, looming U.S. sanctions on Iran and plummeting Venezuelan production. The benchmark on Thursday broke through $80 for the first time since November 2014. crude CLcv1 fell 0.03 percent to $71.47 per barrel and Brent LCOcv1 was last at $79.30, flat on the day.
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