GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks lower but set for strong monthly gain despite tariff uncertainty

By Chibuike Oguh

NEW YORK, May 30 (Reuters) - Global stocks were down on Friday but were set to notch a weekly gain as well as the biggest monthly increase since late 2023 despite markets having been roiled by uncertainty over the Trump administration's tariff policies.

Sentiments were initially buoyed at the start of the week by signs of an easing of trade tensions between the U.S. and Europe, after President Donald Trump delayed planned tariffs on imports from the EU. Investor focus then shifted to earnings of artificial intelligence chipmaker Nvidia NVDA.O, which later reported better-than-expected results mid-week.

But markets were briefly shaken following an unexpected ruling by the U.S. Court of International Trade striking down Trump's so-called Liberation Day tariffs, triggering a court drama that saw an appellate court temporarily reinstate them.

"It's been quite a week," said Mark Malek, chief investment officer at SiebertNXT. "Within four days we got a compressed version of what we've had for the entire month, which is the tug of war between forces that drove markets higher last year and the prior year - that being AI and technology growth stocks - and then this looming challenge we have with all these administration tariffs."

On Wall Street, all three main indexes were trading lower on the session, dragged by weaknesses in technology, energy and materials stocks. They were, however, set to end the week and the month higher, with the benchmark S&P 500 index poised to snap three straight months of declines.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 0.14% to 42,155.39, the S&P 500 .SPX eased 0.33% to 5,892.70 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC shed 0.57% to 19,065.61.

European shares .STOXX were mostly higher and set for a weekly gain and to add 4% for the month of May. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS closed up 0.72% overnight, ending the week lower but gaining nearly 5% for the month.

MSCI's main world index .MIWD00000PUS was down 0.24% to 878.15, but was on track to gain more than 1% for the week and more than 5% in May - making it the biggest monthly gain since November 2023.

Data showed on Friday that U.S. consumers had increased their spending marginally in April, and the closely-watched Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index rose 0.1% last month, in line with expectations.

Trump and Fed Chair Jerome Powell had their first face-to-face meeting on Thursday. Afterwards a Fed statement said: "Powell did not discuss his expectations for monetary policy except to stress that the path of policy will depend entirely on incoming economic information and what that means for the outlook."

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes US10YT=RR fell 1.2 basis points to 4.412%. The 30-year bond US30YT=RR yield fell 0.3 basis points to 4.9203%.

The dollar was higher against major peers including the euro and on track for a monthly gain against the Japanese yen. The dollar weakened 0.01% to 144.18 against the yen JPY=EBS, while the euro EUR=EBS was down 0.19% at $1.1349.

The dollar index =USD, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.18% to 99.44. It was on track for the fifth straight month of losses, weighed down by tariff uncertainty.

Oil prices fell and were headed for a second consecutive weekly loss, as investors weigh a potentially larger OPEC+ output hike for July.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 fell 0.44% to $63.87 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 fell 1.1% to $60.27 a barrel.

Gold prices slipped as the dollar edged higher. Spot gold XAU= fell 0.78% to $3,289.91 an ounce. U.S. gold futures GCc1 slipped 0.93% to $3,286.40 an ounce.