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U.S. stocks higher

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UK shares fall as govt unveils new budget

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Gold hits record high in risk-off mood

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Bitcoin nears record high

(Updates to midday)

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK Oct 30 (Reuters) -

Global stock indexes mostly inched higher on Wednesday after

upbeat results from Google parent Alphabet, while gold prices

rose to a record high ahead of the U.S. presidential election.

British stocks hit their lowest level since

August as UK Finance Minister Rachel Reeves said she would raise

taxes by 40 billion pounds a year ($52 billion) in her first

budget.

Shares of Alphabet rose more than 5%, giving

the S&P 500 its biggest boost. Alphabet reported quarterly

revenue that beat estimates.

On the flip side, semiconductor company Advanced Micro

Devices ( AMD ) shares dropped 9.6% after its revenue forecasts

and artificial intelligence chip sales disappointed investors.

Other chipmakers also slipped, with Nvidia ( NVDA ) down 1%.

Facebook owner Meta Platforms ( META ) and Microsoft ( MSFT )

report earnings later in the day, followed by Apple ( AAPL )

and Amazon.com ( AMZN ) on Thursday.

"The market is heavily focused on what these companies

are going to deliver, their guidance and any signal that perhaps

their purchases of AI-related infrastructure could change," said

Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist at LPL Financial in

Charlotte, North Carolina.

Stocks are up sharply for the year so far, and Krosby

said upbeat results from the megacap names will help to support

the overall market.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 218.42

points, or 0.52%, to 42,451.47, the S&P 500 climbed 15.33

points, or 0.26%, to 5,848.32 and the Nasdaq Composite

advanced 37.79 points, or 0.20%, to 18,750.54.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe

rose 0.51 points, or 0.06%, to 848.59.

The STOXX 600 index dropped 1.04%, while the

FTSE 100 fell 0.7%. Shares of Italian spirit maker Campari

slumped after missing forecasts.

Gold rose to an all-time high as uncertainty over the

Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election boosted safe-haven demand.

A recent

Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Vice President Kamala Harris, a

Democrat, leading Republican Donald Trump 44% to 43% among

registered voters nationally, within the margin of error. Other

opinion polls show tight margins in the seven election

battleground states.

Among riskier assets, bitcoin was down slightly

after surging to near its all-time high from March as investors

weighed the prospect of a victory by Trump, widely seen as

favorable towards crypto.

"Bitcoin has been considered an important barometer for

liquidity in the market," Krosby said, adding that its recent

gains have been "associated with a Trump victory."

Bitcoin was last down 0.64% at $71,846.00.

The

dollar edged down

against other major currencies as stronger-than-expected

U.S. private payrolls data and the UK budget release set off

choppy trading as investors awaited clues about the future

policy paths of their respective central banks.

Data showed U.S. private payrolls growth surged in

October. The key U.S. jobs report for October is due on Friday.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the

currency against six major rivals, rose to 104.43 earlier in the

session but was last down 0.16% at 104.07.

Sterling weakened 0.03% to $1.3011.

Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields slipped, in line

with tumbling yields on British government debt. Benchmark

10-year yields were last down 5.2 basis points at

4.222%, after reaching a nearly four-month peak of 4.339% on

Tuesday.

Investors were also digesting data showing the euro zone

grew faster than expected last quarter. A separate report showed

the U.S. economy had maintained steady third-quarter growth.

In the energy market, U.S. crude rose 2.54% to $68.92

a barrel and Brent rose to $72.79 per barrel, up 2.35%

on the day.

Earlier in Asia, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific

shares outside Japan fell 0.8% to a one-month

low.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that China is considering

approving the issuance of more than 10 trillion yuan ($1.4

trillion) in extra debt in the next few years to revive its

fragile economy.

(Additional reporting by Tom Wilson in London and Rae Wee in

Singapore; Editing by Jacqueline Wong, Christina Fincher, David

Evans and Richard Chang)