(Updates to mid-afternoon)

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Alphabet earnings weigh on AI stocks

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Europe shares helped by Novo Nordisk beat

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Record U.S. imports widens trade gap, services weaken

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Gold hits new peak amid trade tensions

By Stephen Culp

NEW YORK, Feb 5 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were mixed and

benchmark Treasury yields slid on Wednesday as disappointing

earnings and mixed economic data counterbalanced easing jitters

of a spreading global trade war.

The S&P 500 joined Dow in positive territory, but the

tech-heavy Nasdaq remained nominally lower, as disappointing

earnings from Alphabet fueled doubts about the payoff

of investment in artificial intelligence.

Simmering in the background were worries of escalating

tit-for-tat tariff moves.

"We're seeing very choppy trading today," said Greg Bassuk,

chief executive officer at AXS Investments in New York. "And we

think it's reflective of this investor rollercoaster, whipsawing

from the Trump administration directives, corporate earnings and

economic data. All three are really keeping investors on their

toes."

Markets appeared to look past U.S. President Donald Trump's

declaration on Tuesday that the United States would take over

the Gaza Strip, a move that underscored the likelihood of market

volatility under the new administration.

On the economic front, a stronger-than-expected pick-up in

ADP's private payrolls data was offset by a surprise

deceleration in the services sector, while record high imports

pushed the U.S. trade deficit sharply wider.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 250.64

points, or 0.56%, to 44,806.68, the S&P 500 rose 13.29

points, or 0.22%, to 6,051.17 and the Nasdaq Composite

fell 12.59 points, or 0.07%, to 19,641.43.

European stocks ended the session higher, powered in part by

healthcare stocks as sales of Novo Nordisk's

blockbuster drug Wegovy more than doubled in the fourth quarter.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe

rose 3.55 points, or 0.41%, to 870.47.

The STOXX 600 index rose 0.47%, while Europe's

broad FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 9.77 points, or

0.46%. Emerging market stocks rose 3.60 points, or

0.33%, to 1,096.53. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares

outside Japan closed higher by 0.41%, to 576.72,

while Japan's Nikkei rose 33.11 points, or 0.09%, to

38,831.48.

U.S. Treasury yields dropped to their lowest level since

mid-December in the wake of the disappointing services data, as

investors continue to grapple with uncertainties arising from

tariff skirmishes.

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

fell 9.7 basis points to 4.416%, from 4.513% late on Tuesday.

The 30-year bond yield fell 11 basis points to

4.6378% from 4.748% late on Tuesday.

The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in

step with interest rate expectations for the Federal Reserve,

fell 3.6 basis points to 4.179%, from 4.214% late on Tuesday.

The dollar softened as risk of a global trade war appeared

to wane.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback

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

fell 0.47% to 107.55, with the euro up 0.31% at $1.0409.

Against the Japanese yen, the dollar weakened 1.21% to

152.46.

The Mexican peso weakened 0.13% versus the dollar at

20.546.

The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.09% versus the

greenback to C$1.43 per dollar.

In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin gained 0.63% to

$97,116.24. Ethereum rose 4.75% to $2,765.63.

Oil prices dropped as rising U.S. supply and worries of a

new China-U.S. trade war overshadowed Trump's renewed effort to

eliminate Iranian oil exports.

U.S. crude fell 2.30% to $71.03 per barrel, while

Brent fell to $74.61 per barrel, down 2.09% on the day.

Gold resumed its rally as trade war jitters continue to

attract investors to the safe-haven metal, sending it to fresh

record highs.

"Gold is one of three things; it's an inflation hedge, it's

a dollar hedge or it's a disaster hedge," said Paul Nolte,

senior wealth advisor & market strategist at Murphy & Sylvest in

Elmhurst, Illinois.

"For much of the last five or six years, I would say gold

was a dollar hedge. Now it has become now more of a hedge

against things going wrong," Nolte added.

Spot gold rose 0.9% to $2,867.60 an ounce. U.S. gold

futures rose 0.41% to $2,865.00 an ounce.