ORLANDO, Florida, March 4 (Reuters) - U.S. and European stock markets registered solid gains on Wednesday, on hopes that conflict in the Middle East might soon cool, while stabilization in oil and energy markets also helped lay the ground for a rebound in other beaten-down assets.

More on that below. In my column today, I look at why geopolitical crises and the risk of a dollar liquidity shock are reminders that the transition away from a dollar-centric financial universe toward a more fractured, multi-polar world could be very rocky.

If you have more time to read, here are a few articles I recommend to help you make sense of what happened in markets today.

1. U.S. sub sinks Iranian warship off Sri Lanka, killing 87and expanding war zone 2. Trump's Hormuz shipping plan is too little, too late inrace to avert energy shock: Bousso 3. Gold flubs its lines amid Middle East mayhem: Mike Dolan 4. ECB wary of Iran-war inflation spike after missing last"transitory" surge 5. China's factory activity shrinks, but private surveytops five-year highToday's Key Market Moves

* STOCKS: Asia hammered - especially South Korea - Europeup 1-3%, Wall Street closes in the green too. * SECTORS/SHARES: Eight S&P 500 sectors rise, led byconsumer discretionaries. Energy, consumer staples, materialsfall. Amazon +4%, Cisco +2.5%. * FX: Rollercoaster for emerging FX - whacked, then closedstrongly. BRL, ZAR, MXN fit that mold, KRW recovers from 17-yearlow, INR from record low. Biggest G10 gainer is AUD. Bitcoin +8%above $73,000, a one-month high. * BONDS: Treasury yields rise again, up 5 bps at the shortend to bear-flatten the curve. 2s/10s curve 54 bps, flattestclose this year. * COMMODITIES/METALS: Oil steady as U.S. crude stocksrise, European LNG -10%. Gold +1%, other precious metals up asmuch as 3%.Today's Talking Points

* And ... breathe?

Call it profit-taking, position-squaring, tactical trading, a technical bounce, or hope that the war may end soon. Either way, some of the outsized market moves sparked by the Middle East turmoil stalled or reversed a bit on Wednesday, as investors took a figurative breather.

That meant oil, the dollar and volatility all fell, while Wall Street, European stocks, emerging FX and silver rebounded strongly. Not only did Asia miss out, stocks there got slammed on Wednesday. Catch-up Thursday, perhaps?

* Underlying economic strength

Health warning - purchasing managers' index surveys for February pre-date the Middle East crisis. Still, figures on Wednesday showed that business activity around the world was humming along at a surprisingly solid clip last month.

Service sector PMIs show that U.S. activity surged to more than a 3-1/2-year high in February, Chinese activity was the strongest in three years, and European growth picked up pace too. This follows fairly upbeat manufacturing PMIs too.

* Warsh nomination goes to the Senate

The ball to make Kevin Warsh the new Chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve is officially rolling, after President Donald Trump on Wednesday submitted his nomination of the former Fed governor to the Senate.

The confirmation process won't be plain-sailing. Some Senators object to the administration's investigations into current chair Jerome Powell and Governor Lisa Cook, and others say Warsh will be merely a puppet for Trump, further eroding the central bank's independence.

What could move markets tomorrow?

* Developments in the Middle East * Australia trade (January) * Taiwan industrial production (January) * UK PMI (February) * European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde speaks * ECB's Luis de Guindos, Olli Rehn, and Sharon Donnery speakat IIF event in Brussels * Euro zone retail sales (January) * Brazil unemployment (February) * U.S. weekly jobless claims * U.S. Challenger layoffs (February) * U.S. productivity (Q4, prelim) * U.S. import prices (January) * U.S. Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision MichelleBowman speaksWant to receive Trading Day in your inbox every weekday morning? Sign up for my newsletter here. 

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