GLOBAL MARKETS-Euro, stocks slip after ECB downplays bond report

* Global shares edge down after ECB rebuffs bond limit talk
* Apple most valuable US company ever as shares hit record
* Euro falls against dollar, yen
* Oil prices also retreat after initially trading higher

By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Global shares slid and the euro
wavered on Monday after the European Central Bank sought to
squash speculation about the potential shape of market
intervention to contain the euro zone debt crisis, damping
recent investor enthusiasm for risk.
German magazine Der Spiegel said over the weekend that the
ECB was considering buying debt issued by member countries if
their interest rates became too elevated, but a bank spokesman
said it was misleading to report on decisions that still had not
been taken.
Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, also on Monday
reiterated its opposition to bond purchases, and a spokesman for
the German Finance Ministry said it was not aware of any plans
for the ECB to target bond spreads.
A recent rally in global equities pushed the FTSEurofirst
300 index of top European shares to a 13-month peak and
lifted the S&P 500 close to four-year highs on hopes that the
ECB's plan could help control the two-year-old debt crisis.
The FTSEurofirst 300 closed down 0.5 percent at 1,104.86
points, while Wall Street pared earlier losses.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 13.67
points, or 0.10 percent, at 13,261.53. The Standard & Poor's 500
Index was down 2.36 points, or 0.17 percent, at 1,415.80.
The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 6.07 points, or 0.20
percent, at 3,070.52
Shares of Apple Inc rose 2.5 percent to an all-time
high, driving its market capitalization to $622.5 billion and
making it the most valuable U.S. company ever. Apple's market
cap now exceeds that of Microsoft during the dot-com
bubble in the late 1990s.
Facebook Inc plumbed a new low of $18.75, less than
half its IPO value of $38 a share, before rebounding to trade at
$19.56.
MSCI's all-country world stock index and its
emerging market index both were off about 0.1 percent.
European shares initially rose on the Der Spiegel report
that the ECB is considering setting interest rate thresholds for
the purchase of euro zone sovereign debt, a move that would
discourage speculation.
"We are fishing in the fog at the moment so we need to see
some more of the meat regarding the ECB's plans," said
Heinz-Gerd Sonnenschein, equities strategist at Germany's
Postbank.
Investor optimism has improved in recent weeks, said Bruce
Bittles, chief investment strategist at Baird, saying that
"could be problematic given that sentiment is approaching
extreme optimism at a time when the seasonal headwinds begin to
surface."
The euro traded near break-even, off a tad at
$1.2341.
The U.S. Dollar Index was down 0.1 percent at 82.487.
The euro's slide is expected to be limited, with the chance
of the ECB taking action once the summer holiday season ends
leaving investors wary of aggressively selling the currency.
"There are back and forth comments regarding ECB actions
keeping the euro under pressure," said Omer Esiner, chief market
analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange in Washington. "All of
this is taking place against the subdued late summer trading
backdrop so I wouldn't read too much into any of this."
U.S. Treasury debt pared early losses to trade slightly
higher, with yields touching session lows as weakness in stocks
bolstered the safe-haven appeal of U.S. government debt.
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note was up
1/32, with the yield at 1.8088 percent.
Oil prices also retreated, but North Sea Brent later
rebounded. Brent for October rose 39 cents at $114.10 a
barrel.
U.S. light sweet crude oil fell 7 cents to $95.94 a
barrel.