GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks stumble, dollar dips on COVID-19, U.S. election anxiety

* MSCI global stock gauge falls
* S&P, Dow drop, Nasdaq up; Europe stock indexes fall
* U.S. Treasury yields down on stimulus deal doubts
* Oil rises on U.S. Gulf shutdowns

(Updates with fresh comments, close of U.S. markets)
By Lewis Krauskopf
NEW YORK, Oct 27 (Reuters) - A gauge of world stock markets
dropped and the U.S. dollar slipped on Tuesday as investors
grappled with a surge in coronavirus cases and uncertainty over
the impending U.S. presidential election.
Wall Street's main indexes ended mixed, with the S&P 500
.SPX and the Dow industrials .DJI down and the tech-heavy
Nasdaq .IXIC gaining as the lack of a U.S. coronavirus fiscal
relief package also hung over markets.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS shed
0.31%, as the pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX lost 0.95%.
Ahead of the Nov. 3 U.S. presidential election, former Vice
President Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump in national
opinion polls. But the race is close in key battleground states
that could decide the outcome. "Just literally a few trading days away from the election,
folks are sitting on the sidelines seeing ultimately what the
outcome of the election is and then they will move forward from
there," said Michael Arone, chief investment strategist at State
Street Global Advisors.
The United States, Russia, France and other countries have
registered record numbers of infections in recent days, and
European governments moved to set new curbs in motion to try to
rein in a fast-growing surge of cases. Trump acknowledged that a coronavirus economic relief deal
would likely come after the election, with the White House
unable to bridge differences with fellow Republicans in the U.S.
Senate as well as congressional Democrats. "Resurgence in the COVID cases combined with the fact that
we are going to have to wait even longer to get a fiscal policy
package put together certainly has investors on edge,” Arone
said.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell
222.19 points, or 0.8%, to 27,463.19 the S&P 500 .SPX lost
10.28 points, or 0.30%, to 3,390.69 while the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC added 72.41 points, or 0.64%, to 11,431.35. Investors also focused on a busy week of corporate earnings.
Caterpillar CAT.N shares fell 3.2% and 3M MMM.N dropped 3.1%
after the two industrial companies' respective earnings reports.
In foreign exchange markets, the dollar index =USD , which
measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, fell
0.122%, with the euro EUR= down 0.01% to $1.1807. "The movements and swings are going to continue and it's
anxiety and angst overall in markets about the election," said
Juan Perez, currency trader at Tempus Inc. in Washington.
U.S. Treasury yields fell and the yield curve was flatter as
hopes faded for a stimulus deal in Washington to arrive soon.
Benchmark U.S. 10-year notes US10YT=RR last rose 8/32 in
price to yield 0.776%, from 0.803% late on Monday.
Crude rebounded as companies shut down some U.S. Gulf of
Mexico oil production ahead of an approaching storm, although
surging coronavirus infections and rising Libyan supply limited
gains. U.S. crude CLc1 settled up 2.6% at $39.57 a barrel, while
Brent LCOc1 settled at $41.20 a barrel, up 1.8%.

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Emerging markets http://tmsnrt.rs/2ihRugV
Graphic: 2020 asset performance http://tmsnrt.rs/2yaDPgn
Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
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