Global equity markets eased yesterday, knocked lower by concerns over Greece’s new anti-bailout government and a mixed earnings season so far, while US government bond yields rose on fresh signs of a strong American labor market.

Major Wall Street indices reversed early losses to rally as Boeing Co and Apple Inc extended gains fueled by strong earnings reports earlier this week.

Earlier, though, weak results hit European shares, with Royal Dutch Shell weighing on the market after it missed earnings expectations. The oil major, which fell 4.3 per cent, said it would cut spending by $15 billion over three years due to slumping crude prices.

German bond yields initially fell as worries over Greece’s new anti-bailout government buoyed demand for top-rated assets, but the yield on US Treasuries rose after surprisingly strong weekly data on American jobless claims bolstered optimism.

MSCI’s all-country world stock index, a measure of stock performance in 45 countries, fell 0.62 per cent. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares closed down 0.12 per cent at 1,473.19 points.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 135.27 points, or 0.79 per cent, to 17,326.64. The S&P 500 gained 9.91 points, or 0.49 per cent, to 2,012.07 and the Nasdaq Composite added 18.44 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 4,656.43.

The benchmark S&P 500 is trading just north of a critical technical support level at 1,991, with the release today of fourth-quarter US gross domestic product an key indicator of the market’s direction, said Paul Mendelsohn, chief investment strategist at Windham Financial Services in Charlotte, Vermont.

Greece endured a fourth day of market jitters after Sunday’s election with its newly installed government at loggerheads with international creditors as it begins to roll back austerity measures imposed in its bailout deal.

Yields on German 10-year bund, the eurozone benchmark, fell in early trade but closed slightly higher at 0.357 per cent.

Yields on US 10-year government bonds rose to 1.7478 per cent, with the price falling 6/32.

The 10-year British gilt yield dropped below 1.4 per cent for the first time, breaking a record that had held even during the depths of the eurozone debt crisis in July 2012.

Gilt yields fell on the US Federal Reserve’s promise to be patient before it raises interest rates and on uncertainty about Greece’s new government.

US crude oil futures turned negative after a report from oil services firm Genscape showed further inventory builds in energy hub Cushing, Oklahoma. US crude fell 7 cents to $44.38 a barrel.

Brent steadied just above break-even, up 40 cents at $48.87 a barrel.

Switzerland’s franc again dominated trade on major currency markets, weakening against the euro and dollar amid renewed speculation of intervention by the Swiss National Bank, while commodity-based currencies fell against the greenback.

The franc sank to 1.0430 francs per euro in morning trade in Europe, by far its weakest since the SNB triggered the most violent move in a major currency in four decades by dumping its cap on the franc two weeks ago.

Against the dollar, the euro was last up 0.2 per cent at $1.1309. The dollar rose against the Japanese yen 0.76 per cent to 118.42.