* S&P 500 near flat
* Oil prices rise on Middle East conflict
* U.S. dollar up after jobless claims data
* Yen falls after Japan says rates won't jump
NEW YORK, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Wall Street's major indexes put in a mixed performance on Thursday with the S&P hovering near the 5,000-point mark as the U.S. dollar rose and European equities slipped.
U.S. Treasury yields were higher after a 30-year bond auction. Oil prices gained more than 2% on concerns of a broadening Middle East conflict.
The number of Americans filing for state unemployment benefits dipped to 218,000 during the week ended Feb. 3, compared with economists' forecast of 220,000, data showed.
Both U.S. Federal Reserve and European Central Bank policymakers, as well as those in some big emerging markets, have been pushing back against expectations of rapid rate cuts in recent weeks as they gauge whether the inflation spike that began two years ago really has been tamed.
The likelihood of a Fed rate cut in March slipped 2-1/2 percentage points from Wednesday to 16.5%, according to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool. The probability a week ago was 36.5%.
"We continue to get positive surprises in the U.S. and we're not getting enough positive surprises in the rest of the world, and certainly not in China," said Thierry Wizman, global FX and interest rates strategist at Macquarie in New York.
The dollar index was 0.12% higher at 104.15 after hitting 104.43 following the initial claims report, with the euro up 0.04% at 1.0775.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 12.08 points, or 0.03%, to 38,665.28, the S&P 500 lost 2.78 points, or 0.06%, to 4,992.28 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 22.43 points, or 0.14%, to 15,779.08.
The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 49 nations, eased 0.06%.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index reversed earlier modest gains to close 0.1% lower. Losses in healthcare heavyweights offset gains spurred by strong corporate updates from consumer staples stocks like Unilever and luxury major Kering.
The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes rose 5.6 basis points to 4.154%, from 4.098% late on Wednesday, while that of the 30-year bond rose 5.1 basis points to 4.3604%.
In commodities, U.S. crude oil futures gained 3.05% to $76.11 a barrel and Brent crude rose to $81.48 per barrel.
Spot gold lost 0.13% to $2,031.74 an ounce and U.S. gold futures settled 0.2% lower at $2,047.90.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei surged 2.1% to close at its highest level in 34 years, helped in part by dovish BOJ comments.
The Shanghai composite index posted its biggest weekly gain since November 2022 and the CSI blue-chip index also rose, with investors welcoming Wednesday's announcement of leadership change at the top of China's market regulator.
Data showed China's consumer price index was down 0.8% in January from a year earlier, the biggest drop since 2009, although on a monthly basis, CPI rose 0.3%, picking up from the previous month.
(Additional reporting by Herbert Lash and Karen Brettell in New York, andMarc Jones in London; Editing by Nick Macfie, Kirsten Donovan)
