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Stocks gain, dollar slips as earnings, economy drive sentiment
NEW YORK/LONDON, Feb 9 (Reuters) – Global equity markets rallied and the dollar slid on Thursday as earnings from Walt Disney, Siemens and AstraZeneca dispelled investor worries about the economy and future pace of interest rate hikes, helping stocks advance to one-year highs in Europe. Wall Street surged after big gains in S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures underpinned early sentiment in Europe and overnight in Asia. Crude prices eased, with gold firmer as the dollar index fell 0.416{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502}. The view of a strong economy and signs of slowing inflation dispelled for the moment fears that tighter monetary policy by the Federal Reserve and other central banks to…