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 Shares rose in Europe and Asia and Wall Street looked set to open
higher, according to index futures <ESc1> <1YMc1> <SPc1>.
Brent crude <LCOc1>, the international benchmark, fell as far as
$38.18, its lowest since March 4, before recovering to trade down 9
cents on the day at $38.58.
Prices have fallen from highs above $100 a barrel since mid-2014 on
a supply glut, troughing at $27.10 in late January. Brent topped
$42.50 last month in anticipation of agreement among producers to
freeze output. However, such steps look increasingly unlikely.
Last week a Saudi prince reportedly said the kingdom would only
freeze output if Iran and other producers did the same. Iranian Oil
Minister Bijan Zanganeh was quoted as saying at the weekend that his
country would increase production and exports until it reached the
position it occupied before sanctions were imposed over its nuclear
program.
 "Prices are coming down because of speculation Saudi Arabia will not
join (the freeze deal) and that's probably what we'll see over the
next three weeks - more speculation and more verbal intervention,"
ABN Amro chief energy economist Hans van Cleef said.
Copper prices <CMCU3>, which are also sensitive to the value of the
dollar, hit a one-month low of $4,778.50 a ton on the U.S. data and
concern about Chinese demand before recovering to $4,813. The metal
hit a four-month peak of $5,131 in mid-March.
Gold <XAU=> fell for the second successive day, dropping about 0.6
percent to $1,215 an ounce.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 share index <.FTEU3> rose 0.2
percent, led higher by defensive stocks such as utilities and
healthcare. The index opened lower on a fall in telecoms stocks
<.SXKP> after the collapse on Friday of tie-up talks between Orange
<ORAN.PA> and Bouygues <BOUY.PA>.
Britain's FTSE 100 index <.FTSE> also rose 0.2 percent.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
<.MIAPJ0000PUS> earlier rose 0.1 percent, although many of its
components were not traded due to a holiday in Greater China.
Japan's Nikkei <.N225> fell 0.3 percent, led by a fall in automakers
<.ITEQP.T> following poor U.S. sales figures.
The dollar rose 0.2 percent against a basket of major currencies
<.DXY>. It edged down to 111.61 yen <JPY=> but gained 0.2 percent to
$1.1361 per euro.
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The impact of a report on Friday showing the U.S. economy added
215,000 jobs last month and another showing U.S. factory activity
expanded in March for the first time in six months was offset by
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen saying last week the central bank
would proceed cautiously in raising rates.
"Yellen sent some very powerful messages last week so the extent of
dollar strength on payrolls was limited," said BMO Capital Markets
currency strategist Stephen Gallo.
TREASURY YIELDS
U.S. Treasury yields, which rose on Friday after the economic
numbers, turned lower on Monday. Ten-year yields <US10YT=RR> were
down 2.1 basis points at 1.77 percent, compared with 1.79 percent at
Friday's New York close.
German 10-year bond yields <DE10YT=TWEB>, the benchmark for euro
zone borrowing costs, dipped 0.4 bps to 0.14 percent.
Some analysts expect the 10-year yields to test zero again, as they
did a year ago, as the European Central Bank has increased its
monthly purchases of assets, including Bunds, to 80 billion euros
from 60 billion.
"The main driving force is the ECB's increased amount of public
sector asset purchases and there's a very favorable supply-demand
imbalance this month," RIA Capital Markets bond strategist Nick
Stamenkovic said.
(Additional reporting by Hideyuki Sano in Tokyo, Amanda Cooper,
Jemima Kelly and Marius Zaharia in London; editing by John
Stonestreet)
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