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Stocks mixed as U.S. Treasury yields rise, dollar flat

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Euro steadies as France heads for hung parliament

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Week features US CPI data, Fed's Powell, corporate

earnings

(Updates prices at 2:56 p.m ET/1856 GMT)

By Sinéad Carew and Nell Mackenzie

NEW YORK/LONDON, July 8 (Reuters) - MSCI'S global

equities gauge was barely up in choppy trading on Monday while

U.S. Treasury yields dipped as investors awaited testimony from

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, key inflation data and the

corporate earnings season kick-off.

In foreign exchange markets, the euro gave back some of its

gains after earlier hitting a multi-week high against the dollar

following France's election surprise.

Investors were waiting to listen to Powell's comments in

Congress on both Tuesday and Wednesday for more clarity on the

prospects for interest rate cuts by the U.S. central bank.

They were also waiting for the closely monitored U.S.

consumer price report, which is due on Thursday. June's

inflation rate is expected to slow to 3.1% year-over-year, from

3.3% in May, and the core measure is estimated by economists to

stay steady at 3.4%.

The week will end with the kick-off of the second-quarter

earnings season with reports from major U.S. banks Citigroup ( C/PN )

, JP Morgan and Well Fargo on Friday.

"Investors are positioning as they expect a continuation of

this rally for the rest of the year," said Bruce Zaro, managing

director at Granite Wealth Management in Plymouth,

Massachusetts.

Investors are also looking for "a continuation of Powell's

recent dovish comments" when he speaks to Congress, Zaro said.

Traders have increased their bets that the Fed will first

cut rates in September, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool,

which shows a 73.6% probability for a September cut, up from

72.2% on Friday and 59.8% a week ago.

On Wall Street, indexes were a mixed bag. At 2:56 p.m. (1856

GMT) the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 41.30

points, or 0.10%, at 39,334.57, the S&P 500 gained 2.80

points, or 0.05%, to 5,570.00 and the Nasdaq Composite

gained 39.76 points, or 0.21%, to 18,392.52.

On Friday the S&P had notched its third record close in a

row. An advance of the tech-heavy Nasdaq on Monday would mark

its fifth straight record close.

After four closing record's in a row, MSCI's gauge of stocks

across the globe rose 0.02 points to 817.61. In

Europe, the STOXX 600 index earlier closed down 0.03%.

On the currencies side, the euro eased slightly against the

dollar after earlier touching its highest level since June 12.

In France, a leftist alliance unexpectedly took the top spot in

Sunday's parliamentary runoff election, delivering a setback to

Marine Le Pen's nationalist, euroskeptic National Rally party.

The weaker-than-expected showing for the far right was

something of a relief for investors, though they have concerns

the left's plans could unwind many of President Emmanuel

Macron's pro-market reforms.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback

against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro,

gained 0.05% at 105.00.

The euro was down 0.11% at $1.0824. And against the

Japanese yen, the dollar strengthened 0.06% to 160.81.

In Treasuries, U.S. 10-year yields ticked higher after

falling in the last three sessions with a focus on Powell's

appearance before Congress and inflation data later in the week.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes was

flat at 4.273%, from 4.273% late on Friday while the 30-year

bond yield fell 0.6 basis points to 4.4628%.

The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in

step with interest rate expectations, rose 2.1 basis points to

4.6202%, from 4.599% late on Friday.

In commodity markets, oil futures settled lower as

Hurricane Beryl shut U.S. refineries and ports along the Gulf of

Mexico and as hopes for a ceasefire deal in Gaza appeared to

reduce worries about global crude supply disruptions.

U.S. crude settled down 1%, or 83 cents, at $82.33 a

barrel and Brent finished at $85.75 per barrel, down

0.9% or 79 cents on the day.

In precious metals, gold prices slipped as investors booked

profits after Friday's soft U.S. jobs data pushed prices to a

more than one-month high on hopes the Fed would begin cutting

interest rates in September.

Spot gold lost 1.48% to $2,356.28 an ounce. U.S. gold

futures fell 1.49% to $2,352.90 an ounce.