GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks rise, dollar inches up as investors await economic data

By Caroline Valetkevitch and Elizabeth Howcroft

NEW YORK/PARIS, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Major stock indexes rose on Tuesday while the dollar edged higher as investors focused on key market data later this week that could help to gauge the outlook for Federal Reserve policy.

Oil prices eased.

Investors were monitoring developments in Venezuela. The country's main opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, has vowed to return home quickly, praising U.S. President Donald Trump for toppling her enemy, Nicolas Maduro, and declaring her movement ready to win a free election.

Trump's administration plans to meet executives from oil companies later this week to discuss boosting production in Venezuela.

"There's a lot of retooling that would need to get done to get these downstream producers ready for this type of crude oil. It could be done - and it probably will be. How long ... how much investment it will take, and who makes that investment are still the big questions," said Mark Malek, chief investment officer at Siebert Financial.

STOCK INDEXES CLIMB

The raid on Venezuela provided a boost to big U.S. oil companies' stock on Monday, as investors bet Washington would give U.S. firms access to Venezuela's oil reserves.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 173.14 points, or 0.35%, to 49,150.32, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 27.19 points, or 0.39%, to 6,929.24 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC rose 110.14 points, or 0.47%, to 23,505.95.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS added 5.53 points, or 0.54%, to 1,033.55.
The pan-European STOXX 600 .STOXX index rose 0.66%.

Indexes in Germany and Spain hit record highs, as investors remained confident in the economic outlook despite escalating geopolitical tensions.

The dollar index =USD, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.18% to 98.56.

U.S. ECONOMIC DATA TO SET MARKET TONE

The upbeat mood in markets was driven by expectations for U.S. interest rate cuts. Traders were focused on a U.S. monthly employment report, due on Friday, which will influence the market's monetary policy expectations. Financial markets are pricing in two Fed rate cuts this year, according to LSEG data.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes US10YT=RR rose 2 basis points to 4.185%, from 4.163% late on Monday.

U.S. crude CLc1 fell 0.27% to $58.16 a barrel and Brent LCOc1 dipped to $61.65 per barrel, down 0.18%.

Gold extended gains on Tuesday, buoyed by safe-haven demand.

Spot gold XAU= was up 0.9% at $4,486.12 per ounce by 11:54 a.m. ET (1654 GMT), after a nearly 3% gain in the previous session.

Copper soared to an all-time high and nickel leapt more than 9% to an 18-month peak as supply concerns fueled an early-year rally in industrial metals.