(Adds byline, dateline, previous LONDON)
* S&P 500, Germany's DAX index soar to fresh peaks
* Biden's spending plans spur enthusiasm
* U.S. bond yields turn lower on jobless claims data
By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, April 1 (Reuters) - Global equity markets surged on Thursday, with U.S. and European benchmark stock indexes setting record highs, on the back of the strongest manufacturing data around the world in decades and a drop in bond yields that lifted big tech shares.
U.S. President Joe Biden's sweeping $2.3 trillion plan to rebuild America's crumbling infrastructure added to investor enthusiasm, as did accelerating vaccine rollouts.
The dollar fell, easing off nearly three-year highs in the first quarter, while oil rose before a meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies that was expected to keep supply tight. markets ended with a late burst pushing Chinese shares up 1.2%, while Europe's STOXX 600 .STOXX shrugged off France's new lockdown order to close in on its pre-COVID record highs. .EU
Germany's DAX index .GDAXI scaled a new high after IHS Markit's Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) showed euro zone factories seeing their fastest pace on growth in the survey's near 24-year history. Wall Street, the S&P 500 .SPX also touched a new high as it charged past the 4,000 mark after the Institute for Supply Management said its index of national factory activity soared to its highest level in more than 37 years in March. are multiple tailwinds - stimulus, expectations of record earnings, vaccines - driving stocks higher, said King Lip, chief investment strategist at Baker Avenue Asset Management in San Francisco.
"With stimulus, with the Fed committed to being dovish, with the economy reopening due to more of the U.S. getting vaccines, overall you're going see corporate earnings do pretty well."
MSCI's benchmark for global equity markets .MIWD00000PUS rose 0.93% to 679.55, while Europe's broad FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 closed up 0.59%.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 0.46%, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.91% and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 1.48%.
The dollar eased a bit after a 3.5% first-quarter gain. The dollar index =USD fell 0.295%, with the euro EUR= up 0.35% to $1.1769. The Japanese yen JPY= strengthened 0.13% versus the greenback at 110.55 per dollar.
Higher-than-expected weekly jobless claims pushed U.S. Treasury yields lower, flattening the yield curve, but did little to dampen investor expectations of Friday's monthly employment report.
The Labor Department said the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week. The jobless claims number wasn't as great as everyone had hoped, but halted the recent rise in bond yields, Lip said.
"A little bit of a slowdown is going to be an improvement on rates," he said.
The 10-year U.S. Treasury US10YT=RR note fell 7.1 basis points to 1.6752%.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 rose $1.01 to $63.75 a barrel. U.S. crude futures CLc1 gained $1.15 to $60.31 a barrel.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Global assets
http://tmsnrt.rs/2jvdmXl Global currencies vs. dollar
http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh Emerging markets
http://tmsnrt.rs/2ihRugV MSCI All Country World Index Market Cap
http://tmsnrt.rs/2EmTD6j U.S. yields and inflation
https://tmsnrt.rs/3rElOC9
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>