World stocks, dollar slip as reports kindle US-China trade deal hopes

The US dollar and global equity markets edged lower on Thursday as efforts by China to smooth the path forward in US-Sino trade talks was offset by concerns tensions between the world's two largest economies were too large to quickly overcome.

Oil prices rose after Reuters reported the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies are likely to extend existing output cuts until mid-2020.

Yields on US Treasury debt rose, snapping three sessions of declines, bolstered by China saying it was willing to work with the United States to resolve core trade concerns, rekindling some hopes for a bilateral deal.

Also lifting sentiment was a Wall Street Journal report that said China had invited top U.S. trade negotiators for a new round of face-to-face talks in Beijing.

Germany's trade-sensitive DAX index pared most losses to end 0.02% lower.

"This just shows that the trade deal is not dead and that we will get some sort of an extended truce, which is a positive," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.

"What we're going through now is a market beginning to realize the daily rhetoric of the trade news - one day positive, one day negative - is beginning to wear off," he said, adding he would not be surprised to see stocks end the day higher.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe shed 0.33%, while the pan-European STOXX 600 index lost 0.44%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 77.77 points, or 0.28%, to 27,743.32. The S&P 500 lost 7.37 points, or 0.24%, to 3,101.09 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 20.75 points, or 0.24%, to 8,505.98.

The latest news on the trade deal came after a series of headlines earlier this week that suggested ongoing talks were unraveling.

Reuters reported on Wednesday negotiations to finalize a deal may extend into next year as Beijing presses for more extensive tariff rollbacks and the Trump administration counters with heightened demands of its own.

Benchmark German bond yields also ended a three-day streak of declines to nudge higher.

German 10-year bond yields, considered a euro zone benchmark, rose nearly 2 basis points to -0.3340%.

The benchmark 10-year US Treasury note fell 8/32 in price to push yields higher to 1.7637%.

The dollar edged lower against other major currencies.

The dollar index fell 0.01%, with the euro down 0.03% to $1.1069. The Japanese yen strengthened 0.03% versus the greenback at 108.59 per dollar.

Brent crude rose $1.10 to $63.50 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained 92 cents to $57.93. Both benchmarks had fallen earlier in the session.