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Wall Street stocks down slightly; European index off ~1%

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Oil prices fell again after hitting Dec lows on Tuesday

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U.S. Treasury yields; dollar falls against Japan's yen

(Updated prices at 11:31 a.m ET/ 1531 GMT)

By Sinéad Carew and Tom Wilson

LONDON, Sept 4 (Reuters) - MSCI's global equities gauge

was lower on Wednesday and safe haven assets such as Treasuries

and Japan's yen were in demand after a mixed batch of economic

data, while Wall Street's stock trading was choppy after

Tuesday's big sell-off.

In energy markets, crude oil futures were falling for a

third day in a row but at a slower pace than Tuesday when both

U.S. crude and Brent both dropped more than 4%.

In U.S. Treasuries yields were lower but the closely watched

yield curve between two-year and 10-year Treasury note yields

briefly turned positive on Wednesday, which could be a bearish

indicator for the U.S. economy.

Wall Street indexes had closed sharply lower on Tuesday -

registering their biggest drop since early August - as investors

took profits in growth stocks and reacted to weaker than

expected U.S. manufacturing data. Another big factor was a dive

in shares of U.S. heavyweight Nvidia ( NVDA ) whose value sank

by a record $279 billion on Tuesday as investors checked their

enthusiasm for artificial intelligence (AI) stocks.

"Sell-offs that come without significant news and are more

profit-taking oriented often peter out quickly and find

stability at a lower level. That's what we're seeing today,"

said Rick Meckler, partner, Cherry Lane Investments, a family

investment office in New Vernon, New Jersey.

"It was a brief rush to the exits, which we've seen before

particularly in a market that's risen like this. Once that

occurs and there's some shake out it seems to find its level

again and start to recover."

And Meckler noted that investors have become used to mixed

economic data. "You could point to numbers that show a softening

and numbers that show a soft landing," he said.

This held true for Wednesday's releases and commentary from

the Federal Reserve as investors tried to assess whether the

U.S. central bank will cut rates by a quarter percentage point

or a half a percentage point this month.

Wednesday's Commerce Department data showed that new orders

for U.S.-manufactured goods increased more than expected in

July, boosted by defense aircraft, but demand elsewhere was

moderate with borrowing costs high.

U.S. job openings dropped to a 3-1/2-year low in July,

suggesting the labor market was losing steam, leading traders to

add to bets that the Fed will deliver a half-a-percentage-point

reduction in interest rates at its next meeting this month.

Also on Wednesday, Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael

Bostic said the U.S. central bank must not keep interest rates

too high much longer or it risks harming employment too much.

On Wall Street at 11:31 a.m. the Dow Jones Industrial

Average rose 49.43 points, or 0.12%, to 40,985.61, the

S&P 500 lost 2.59 points, or 0.05%, to 5,526.06 and the

Nasdaq Composite lost 18.75 points, or 0.11%, to

17,116.87.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe fell

3.94 points, or 0.48%, to 815.53 while Europe's STOXX 600

index fell 1.03%.

In foreign exchange markets, the dollar eased against most

major currencies after the July U.S. job openings data tilted

the odds further in favor of larger U.S. rate cuts while the yen

benefited from a safe haven bid.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback

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

fell 0.32% at 101.37.

The euro was up 0.33% at $1.1079 while against the

Japanese yen, the dollar weakened 0.82% to 144.26.

In Treasuries, the yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes

fell 5.1 basis points to 3.793%, from 3.844% late on

Tuesday while the 30-year bond yield fell 4 basis

points to 4.0898% from 4.13% late on Tuesday.

The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in

step with interest rate expectations, fell 9.1 basis points to

3.7971%, from 3.888% late on Tuesday.

A closely watched part of the U.S. Treasury yield curve

measuring the gap between yields on two- and 10-year Treasury

notes, seen as an indicator of economic

expectations, was at a negative 0.6 basis points.

Crude oil prices fell on pessimism about demand in the

coming months as crude producers offered mixed signals about

supply increases.

Concerns over the sluggish outlook in China - the world's

biggest oil importer - and the possibility of a global slowdown

that would mean reduced fuel demand, have exacerbated the

decline in oil prices.

U.S. crude lost 0.68% to $69.83 a barrel and Brent

fell to $73.27 per barrel, down 0.62% on the day.

Gold prices rose slightly after slipping to their lowest

level in nearly two weeks after three sessions of losses.

Spot gold added 0.08% to $2,494.69 an ounce. U.S.

gold futures fell 0.26% to $2,483.50 an ounce.