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* S&P stock futures hit record highs
* European shares at record levels
* Crude oil slips after rise in U.S. gasoline stocks
* Fed's Powell to speak at IMF event at 1600 GMT
* Weekly U.S. jobless claims data due at 1230 GMT
* ECB reassures on accommodative monetary policy
By Huw Jones
LONDON, April 8 (Reuters) - Wall Street was poised to notch
a record high on Thursday after reassurance from the Federal
Reserve that its bond-buying support for economic recovery won't
be ending anytime soon.
E-mini futures on the S&P 500 were up 0.33% at 4,083
points, just off a record high of 4,092.75 earlier. Nasdaq
futures gained 0.86%
Minutes of the Fed's last policy meeting, published on
Wednesday, showed members felt the economy was still short of
target and were in no rush to scale back their $120 billion a
month of bond buying.
"As long as that message remains consistent and, more
importantly, unified, that is going to have a bigger and bigger
influence on yields," said Derek Halpenny, head of research for
global markets at MUFG.
"That is what is key in the market at the moment, as rates
appear to have reached some degree of equilibrium, and that is
what is encouraging the equities market performance. I can't
really see anything on the immediate horizon to upset that."
U.S. Treasuries yields were down from their
14-month highs, although analysts said markets will be tested
next week when the U.S. earnings seasons gets underway.
The U.S. weekly jobless claims data is due at 1230 GMT, and
is expected to show the number of Americans filing for new
unemployment benefits dropped in the latest week, a further sign
the economy is recovering from COVID-19.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell speaks at 1600 GMT at an
International Monetary Fund event and he is likely to reiterate
the dovish outlook.
There was little in the way of corporate news, though shares
in Tesla Inc rose about 1% after President Joe Biden's
administration proposed a $174 billion boost to electric
vehicles.
ECB DOVISH TOO
Stocks in Europe also reached record highs, buoyed by
optimism in Britain over easing lockdown restrictions and
supportive outlooks from the Fed and the European Central Bank.
The European STOXX index of 600 leading companies
rose 0.44%, just off the high of 436.66 points it reached
earlier in the session. London's blue-chip FTSE 100 index
was up 0.4%.
"It's looking good as evaluations in Europe are much lower
than they are in the U.S., so there is potentially more upside.
The line of least resistance for European markets is higher,"
said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.
"In terms of economic re-opening, there is enough optimism
built in at the moment to drive markets quite a bit higher from
here, and the Fed has reiterated it's going to remain on hold
for a while," Hewson said.
The ECB said in the account of its March 11 meeting,
published on Thursday, that it was important to provide
reassurance there would be no change in its accommodative
monetary policy for as long as necessary.
In Asia, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares
outside Japan inched up 0.3% in quiet trade.
Japan's Nikkei slipped 0.3%, not helped by news Tokyo's
governor had asked for emergency measures to stem a surge of
COVID-19 infections.
In currencies, the dollar index eased to 92.291 from
its recent five-month high at 93.439.
The euro was steady at $1.1877, after rising as high
as $1.1914 overnight following a surprisingly upbeat survey of
European Union business activity.
In commodity markets, gold was at $1,750 an ounce.
Oil prices fell after official figures showed a big
increase in U.S. gasoline stockpiles, causing concern about
demand for crude weakening in the world's biggest consumer of
the resource at a time when supplies around the world are
rising.
Brent fell 29 cents to $62.87 a barrel. U.S. crude
lost 44 cents to $59.33 per barrel.
(Aditional reporting by Wayne Cole and Chibuike Oguh; editing
by Larry King)
