GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks, energy shares, oil jump; investors downplay Venezuela events

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Major stock indexes jumped and oil prices gained on Monday, with energy shares climbing and investors reacting mostly calmly to potential market ramifications after a U.S. military strike that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a record high early. The S&P 500 energy index .SPNY was up more than 2% with shares of Exxon Mobil XOM.N also up more than 2% and Chevron CVX.N up more than 5%. Financial .SPSY shares also rose, while an S&P index of defense shares .SPLRCAERO was up more than 1%.

After the dramatic events in Venezuela at the weekend, U.S. President Donald Trump said he was putting the South American nation under temporary American control and that he could order another strike if Venezuela does not cooperate with U.S. efforts to open up its oil industry and stop drug trafficking. He also threatened military action in Colombia and Mexico.

Trump is planning to meet with executives from U.S. oil companies later this week to discuss boosting Venezuelan oil production, Reuters reported, citing a source familiar with the matter.

Oil prices were also higher as traders assessed the possible impact on crude flows from Venezuela, home of the biggest global oil reserve.

"It's a reasonable reaction from the markets to largely ignore the geopolitics around Venezuela, with the exception of a handful of oil companies, which are spiking," said Oliver Pursche, senior vice president, advisor for Wealthspire Advisors in Westport, Connecticut.
"Venezuela's GDP has virtually no impact on global GDP... so the market should ignore it," he said, noting that U.S. economic data this week will be key to the outlook for interest rates.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 665.43 points, or 1.38%, to 49,048.73, the S&P 500 .SPX rose 46.71 points, or 0.68%, to 6,905.21 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC rose 162.25 points, or 0.70%, to 23,397.58.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS rose 9.30 points, or 0.91%, to 1,028.94.
The pan-European STOXX 600 .STOXX index rose 0.94%.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 rose $1.01 to settle at $61.76 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 gained ! to settle at $58.32.

US MILITARY ACTION SPURS SAFE-HAVEN DEMAND

Gold rose to a one-week high on bullion's safe-haven appeal.

Spot gold XAU= was last up 2.64% to $4,444.32 an ounce.

The dollar index was down slightly after hitting a near-four-week high on Monday against a range of currencies following a weak December, with traders focused on this week's raft of key economic data and largely shrugging off events in Venezuela.

The dollar index =USD, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, fell 0.29% to 98.27.

Traders readied for new data that should offer fresh clues on the state of the U.S. economy and the likely path of Federal Reserve policy, culminating in Friday's jobs report for December.

U.S. Treasury yields eased. The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes US10YT=RR fell 2.4 basis points to 4.165%, from 4.189% late on Friday.