Sawt Falasteen - European stocks advance and bitcoin hits record high

Meanwhile, bitcoin struck a fresh record above $73,000before giving up much of its gains.

Even though inflation rose faster than expected in Tuesday's latest US consumer prices report, it wasn't enough to change investors' outlook that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in June.

"As far as forecasts for the path and timing of Federal Reserve rate cuts are concerned, nothing really changed," said David Morrison, analyst at Trade Nation.

"The probability of no change at next week’s (Fed) meeting is now 99 percent, while there’s now a 58 percent likelihood of a 25 basis point cut at the June meeting."

After rising to record levels yesterday, the Dow was up slightly and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite down slightly Wednesday, indicating that markets for the moment have largely priced in a June cut in interest rates.

European markets opened higher Wednesday as they played catch-up with New York's rise the previous day.

Frankfurt briefly struck an all-time pinnacle above 18,000 points as speculation mounted that the European Central Bank could join the Fed and lower borrowing costs in June.

"It looks like traders are still hanging onto Powell's less than hawkish vibe, which has everyone thinking about potential rate cuts in June and keeping the market response in check," said Fawad Razaqzada, analyst at FOREX.com.

Thursday will see the release of US retail sales and producer prices data, before the Fed's policy-making council meets next week.

London was higher as official data showed the UK economy expanded 0.2 percent in January after a moderate contraction in December.

"There is growing evidence that the UK is emerging from its technical recession, although it’s hard to say that the economy is bouncing back," said Kathleen Brooks, an analyst at XTB.com. .

Bitcoin surged to a new high of $73,664 to extend its blistering run, propelled partly by global moves to increase trading access to the world's biggest cryptocurrency.

Hong Kong dipped after a three-day rally, while Tokyo was weighed down by talk that the Bank of Japan could next week begin shifting away from its ultra-loose monetary policy.

- Key figures around 1145 GMT -

New York - Dow: UP 0.2 percent at 39,071.02 points

New York - S&P 500: DOWN 0.1 percent at 5,167.89

New York - Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 0.5 percent at 39,058.57

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.4 percent at 7,777.07

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.7 percent at 8,147.66

Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.1 percent at 17,975.56

EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.5 percent at 5,008.72

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.3 percent at 38,695.97 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.1 percent at 17,082.11 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.4 percent at 3,043.83 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0942 from $1.0930 on Tuesday

Dollar/yen: UP at 147.85 yen from 147.67 yen

Pound/dollar: FLAT at $1.2795

Euro/pound: UP at 85.51 pence from 85.41 pence

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 1.9 percent at $82.50 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP 2.2 percent at $79.25 per barrel

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L.AbuTayeh--SF-PST