* European shares inch up, Wall Street futures up 0.4%
* Bund yields at lowest since May
* Dollar steadies after gains, Brexit bruises sterling
* Graphic: 2020 asset performance http://tmsnrt.rs/2yaDPgn
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
By Carolyn Cohn
LONDON, Oct 14 (Reuters) - European shares held steady on
Wednesday, underpinned by gains for Wall Street futures,
following losses the day before on vaccine trials and a stimulus
impasse, while the dollar was also stable.
The pan-European STOXX 600 was unchanged in early
trading, and markets in Frankfurt, London and
Paris were steady to higher.
Markets had little direction as they grappled with "angst
about vaccine/antibody delays, angst about rising covid cases in
Europe, stalled U.S. fiscal talks, stalled Brexit trade talks",
said Kit Juckes, macro strategist at Societe Generale.
Wall Street futures were up 0.4%, however, with U.S.
banks Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and Bank of
America scheduled to report results on Wednesday,
following above-estimate earnings from JPMorgan and
Citigroup in the previous session.
Stock market losses began on Wall Street Tuesday when
Johnson & Johnson said it was pausing a COVID-19 vaccine
trial after a study participant suffered an unexplained illness.
Eli Lilly and Co later said it too had paused the
clinical trial of its COVID-19 antibody treatment because of a
safety concern, leading the U.S. equity market to deepen losses.
J&J shares lost 2.3%, and Eli Lilly closed down nearly 3%.
For Reuters Live Markets blog on European and UK stock
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Hopes for the passage of a new coronavirus relief package
also faded as U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected a $1.8
trillion relief proposal from the White House.
"U.S. stimulus talks are still going nowhere, dimming the
prospect of a new round of support this side of the election,"
said Sydney-based NAB strategist Rodrigo Catril.
In addition, investors are watching tensions between the
European Union and Britain after the EU demanded "substantive"
movement on Tuesday on fisheries, dispute settlement and
guarantees of fair competition in their talks on a post-Brexit
trade deal.
Sterling declined the most among major currencies, down 0.4%
against the euro, the dollar and yen
. EU leaders will hold a summit in Brussels on
Thursday and Friday to assess progress.
Euro zone August industrial production data is due on
Wednesday.
BREATHER
Oil slipped on concerns that fuel demand will continue to
falter on concern rising coronavirus cases across Europe and in
the United States, the world's biggest oil consumer, will impede
economic growth.
Brent and U.S. crude were off around 0.5% at
$42.24 and $39.97 a barrel, respectively.
The U.S. dollar was steady after its best day in three weeks
on Tuesday, when its index against a basket of six major
currencies rose 0.5%. The index was last 0.1% higher at 93.62.
The euro was barely changed at $1.1734.
Government bonds were also seeing small moves
, though German bund yields, which move inversely to
prices, dipped to their lowest since May. Gold,
another safe haven, picked up 0.26%.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside of
Japan had tracked Wall Street's losses overnight
to end a seven-day rally.
The index was last down 0.25%, having toppled from a
two-and-a-half-year high of 588.76 touched on Tuesday. Chinese
shares closed down 0.7%.
(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn, Swati Pandey and Marc Jones,
editing by Larry King)