Global stocks and oil surge

By Herbert Lash

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global stocks and crude oil prices jumped 3.0 percent or more on Wednesday after blockbuster earnings from Intel and a raft of economic news suggested the U.S. economy may be pulling out of a deep recession.

Oil almost topped $62 a barrel at one point on data showing a fall in U.S. crude inventories and after strong results from Goldman Sachs and Intel on Tuesday lifted hopes for recovery.

Safe-haven demand for the U.S. dollar and government debt tumbled as investors shifted into higher-yielding currencies and drove up the price of gold and industrial metals. The U.S. dollar fell to a one-month low against major currencies.

Data showing factories in New York state nearly recovered from recession in July lifted spirits, leading investors to shrug off forecasts from the Federal Reserve for 2009-2011 that said the U.S. jobless rate could top 10 percent this year.

The rally in stocks pushed the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 Index up 6.1 percent so far this week -- lifting it again into positive territory for 2009 -- in the best three-day advance since stocks surged off a decade low in March.

The Dow and Nasdaq each gained more than 3.0 percent, while the MSCI all-country world index rose 2.97 percent. Emerging markets also surged, with MSCI's emerging equities index climbing almost 4.0 percent.

The release of Intel's results after the bell on Tuesday set the tone for a worldwide rally in equities, with the technology bellwether handily beating profit estimates on demand for personal computers that was better than expected.

Intel's shares jumped 7.3 percent.

"Intel is the guts of the whole technology industry, so when they're talking about consumers getting more active on the PC front, that augers well for a lot of different things," said David Katz, chief investment officer at Matrix Asset Advisors in New York.

AMD Micro Devices (AMD.N), Intel's main rival, gained 8.7 percent while Microsoft (MSFT.O) rose 4.4 percent.

The PHLX semiconductor index .SOXX rose 4.4 percent to post its fifth-straight day of gains -- its longest winning streak since a six-day run-up in late May.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI closed up 256.72 points, or 3.07 percent, at 8,616.21. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX gained 26.84 points, or 2.96 percent, at 932.68. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC advanced 63.17 points, or 3.51 percent, at 1,862.90.

"With the Fed saying that things are looking a little bit better than they thought, that means profits will uniformly look better than everybody thought," said Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald & Co in San Francisco.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of top shares rose 2.8 percent to close at 863.32 points.

Oil surged after the U.S. Energy Information Administration said crude inventories fell by 2.8 million barrels, or more than expected. <EIA/S> The decline was offset by a bigger-than-forecast rise in gasoline supplies.