GLOBAL MARKETS-U.S. stocks fluctuate, oil drops amid earnings, trade talks

By Stephen Culp

NEW YORK, April 29 (Reuters) - Wall Street fluctuated between gains and losses on Tuesday while crude and gold prices slid as investors juggled corporate earnings, signs of progress in President Donald Trump's multi-front tariff negotiations, and generally downbeat economic data.

All three major U.S. stock indexes were last modestly higher, with the blue-chip Dow out front.

Canada's election served a rebuke to U.S. President Donald Trump's bruising trade policies and comments about annexing the nation to become the United States' 51st state.

"Canada made a major statement; it's not going to roll over to Trump," said Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist at Ingalls & Snyder in New York. "They are going to be very tough on trade issues. I think they're insulted by the idea that Trump wants to make them the 51st state.

"Hopefully the rhetoric out of the White House subsides," Ghriskey added.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday tariff talks are ongoing, that the onus of U.S.-China trade negotiations fell on Beijing and that he didn't expect supply chain disruption to result from these disputes.

For its part, China has exempted ethane from its 125% tariff on U.S. imports, according to two sources familiar with the matter, in the latest sign that the tariff situation is fluid.

First-quarter reporting season is shifting into overdrive this week.

Four of the "Magnificent Seven" group of artificial intelligence-related megacap stocks - Meta Platforms META.O, Microsoft MSFT.O, Apple AAPL.O and Amazon.com AMZN.O - are among the high-profile results expected this week.

On the economic front, consumer confidence soured more than expected and job openings dropped 3.9%.

"Consumer confidence is also down, you know pretty significantly, and I think there is nervousness about the economy in general because of these trade issues, these tariff issues," Ghriskey said. "There's going to be some pain on the consumer level."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 225.92 points, or 0.56%, to 40,453.51, the S&P 500 .SPX rose 10.79 points, or 0.19%, to 5,539.54 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC rose 13.18 points, or 0.07%, to 17,378.36.

European shares pared initial gains as investors parsed corporate earnings while keeping an eye on tariff developments.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS rose 2.26 points, or 0.27%, to 829.47.

The pan-European STOXX 600 .STOXX index rose 0.38%, while Europe's broad FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 rose 8.18 points, or 0.39%.

Emerging market stocks .MSCIEF rose 4.72 points, or 0.43%, to 1,107.28. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS closed higher by 0.34% at 575.73, while Japan's Nikkei .N225 rose 134.25 points, or 0.38%, to 35,839.99.

The dollar gained after Bessent's comments regarding progress in trade talks, but was still on course to notch its biggest two-month fall in more than 20 years.

Canada's loonie softened against the dollar as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberals retained power in Monday's election, fueled by a backlash against Trump's tariffs and comments about making the nation the 51st state.

The dollar index =USD, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.12% to 99.16, with the euro EUR= down 0.21% at $1.1397.

Against the Japanese yen JPY=, the dollar strengthened 0.11% to 142.18.

Sterling GBP= weakened 0.31% to $1.3397.

The Mexican peso MXN= strengthened 0.03% versus the dollar at 19.586.

The Canadian dollar CAD= weakened 0.22% versus the greenback to C$1.39 per dollar.

U.S. 10-year Treasury yields fell for the sixth straight day to a three-week low on the heels of weaker-than-expected economic data.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes US10YT=RR fell 3.7 basis points to 4.179% from 4.216% late on Monday.

The 30-year bond US30YT=RR yield fell 2.9 basis points to 4.6636% from 4.693% late on Monday.

The 2-year note US2YT=RR yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations for the Federal Reserve, fell 2.5 basis points to 3.66%, from 3.685% late on Monday.

Oil prices slid as Trump's ongoing, multi-front trade war raised the likelihood of global recession and fanned fears of dampening demand.

U.S. crude CLc1 fell 1.93% to $60.85 a barrel and Brent LCOc1 fell to $64.54 per barrel, down 1.96% on the day.

Gold prices dipped in opposition to the dollar's gain.

Spot gold XAU= fell 0.9% to $3,311.29 an ounce. U.S. gold futures GCc1 fell 0.69% to $3,310.00 an ounce.