(New throughout, updates prices, market activity Adds gold, oil
settlement prices, comment)
* Global shares slide as Wall Street cools a bit
* Bonds rally on safety appeal, dollar backs away from highs
* Graphic: Global asset performance http://tmsnrt.rs/2yaDPgn
* Graphic: World FX rates http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
NEW YORK, May 19 (Reuters) - U.S. shares were mixed late on
Thursday as bargain hunters emerged in late trading after
investors dumped stocks on fears of sluggish growth and bought
safe-haven assets such as government debt and the Swiss franc.
Supply chain woes continued to fuel inflation and growth
concerns as Cisco Systems Inc warned of persistent
component shortages, knocking its shares down 13.4%.
Data showed factory output in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region
decelerated far more than expected in May with the business
outlook for the six months ahead the weakest in more than 13
years, a regional Federal Reserve bank survey said.
Toward the close, some megacap growth stocks that have badly
underperformed this year made gains. The Dow Jones Industrial
Average fell 0.2%, the S&P 500 gained 0.07% and
the Nasdaq Composite added 0.56%.
Big slides for Walmart on Tuesday and Target on Wednesday
had investors demoralized and wondering about higher costs
across the supply chain, said Michael James, managing director
of equity trading at Wedbush Securities.
"You got a pretty severe shock to the system for portfolio
managers with the combination of those two," James said. "That
type of damage is hard to repair, piled on top of the extremely
challenging year that technology investors have had," he said.
"On the other hand, you'll get trading optimists who view
things have gotten extremely oversold and with the Nasdaq down
27% coming into today, you're due for some kind of a bounce."
Traders are looking for a catalyst that will turn the market
around as a near-term bottom approaches, said Rick Meckler,
president of hedge fund LibertyView Capital Management LLC.
But, 'there's probably still enough fear among investors to
see a few more downdrafts," Meckler said.
Cash hoarding has reached the highest level since September
2001, indicating strong bearish sentiment, according to Louise
Dudley, a portfolio manager at Federated Hermes Ltd.
Goldman Sachs estimates a 35% probability of a U.S.
recession in the next two years, while Morgan Stanley's sees a
25% chance of one in the next 12 months.
U.S. spot power and natural gas prices soared to their
highest in over a year in some U.S. regions as Americans cranked
up air conditioners during a spring heatwave.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe shed
0.18% and the pan-European STOXX 600 index closed down
a preliminary 1.37%.
Asia-Pacific shares ex-Japan snapped four
days of gains to wilt 1.8%, dragged down by a 1.65% loss for
Australia's resource-heavy index, a 2.5% drop in Hong
Kong. Tokyo's Nikkei shed 1.9%.
Germany's 10-year bond yield fell below 1% and U.S. Treasury
yields fell as more soft U.S. economic data stirred worries the
Federal Reserve's aggressive monetary tightening could hurt the
global economy.
The yield on 10-year Treasury notes fell 3.8
basis points to 2.846%, after hitting a three-week low of
2.772%.
The dollar fell across the board, pulling back further from
a two-decade high, as most other major currencies drew buyers.
The dollar index fell 1.021%, with the euro up
1.21% to $1.0593. The Japanese yen strengthened 0.38% to 127.71
per dollar.
Central banks have been walking a tightrope, trying to
regain control of decades-high inflation without causing painful
recessions.
"We will have to discuss what we can do together in our
respective areas of responsibility to avoid stagflation
scenarios," German finance minister Christian Lindner said as he
arrived for a two-day meeting of top central bankers near Bonn.
Oil prices rallied late as Chinese officials planned to ease
restrictions in Shanghai, which could further tighten global
energy supply, and as the dollar retreated.
U.S. crude futures rose $2.62 to settle at $112.21 a
barrel. Brent settled up $2.93 at $112.04 a barrel.
U.S. gold futures settled up 1.4% at $1,841.20 an
ounce, as a weaker dollar and Treasury yields burnished
bullion's safe-haven appeal.
(Reporting by Herbert Lash, additional reporting by Marc Jones
in London, Francesco Canepa in Koenigswinter, Germany, Stella
Qiu in Beijing and Alun John in Hong Kong; Editing by Kirsten
Donovan, Bernadette Baum and David Gregorio)