GLOBAL MARKETS-Nasdaq gains ahead of Nvidia earnings, Fed minutes reveal a divided FOMC

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Nvidia (NVDA) earnings seen as key to AI market outlook

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Delayed employment data may impact Fed rate decision

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Treasury yields rise as investors await Fed minutes

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Europe stocks fall, dollar up against yen

(Updates to mid-afternoon)

By Stephen Culp

NEW YORK, Nov 19 (Reuters) - The Nasdaq rose on Wednesday, clawing back some ground lost during the recent selloff as investors positioned themselves ahead of Nvidia's (NVDA) much-anticipated quarterly results and crucial employment data that had been unavailable during the longest-ever U.S. government shutdown.

While the S&P 500 and Dow edged lower, rising tech shares put the Nasdaq into positive territory.

Minutes from the Fed's October meeting showed policymakers were more divided than usual, lowering interest rates even as some members cautioned lower interest rates could quell efforts to cool inflation. Gold pared gains following the release of the minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's October meeting, and crude prices slid on reports of a U.S.-proposed resolution to Russia's war on Ukraine.

Chipmaker Nvidia has come to represent the nascent artificial intelligence technology that has powered much of the stock market's rally in recent months. Its quarterly results and forward guidance will be scrutinized to determine how much life remains in the AI boom and whether worries over inflated valuations and a potential AI bubble are warranted.

"(Nvidia's (NVDA)) results and forward expectations should be fairly good because the companies that are Nvidia's (NVDA) customers are expanding and continuing to grow their investment in AI infrastructure, so chip demand looks like it's set to increase," said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Seattle.

"It seems early to talk about an AI bubble because the growth has been driven by earnings, which have driven growth expectations fairly higher," Haworth added. "We're early in this investment cycle; we're moving from building these models to implementing them."

The recently ended government shutdown resulted in a backlog of official economic data, which is now beginning to flow. The Labor Department's September employment report is slated for release on Thursday. Should the report fall short of expectations, it could affect the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate decision at the conclusion of next month's monetary policy meeting. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 144.12 points, or 0.31%, to 45,948.94, the S&P 500 fell 3.45 points, or 0.05%, to 6,614.17 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 27.11 points, or 0.12%, to 22,460.58.

European shares ended nearly unchanged, drifting along near one-month lows ahead of Nvidia's (NVDA) earnings. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe fell 2.07 points, or 0.21%, to 973.94. The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.03%, while Europe's broad FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 0.97 points, or 0.04%. Emerging market stocks fell 2.09 points, or 0.15%, to 1,359.66. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed lower by 0.35%, to 697.73, while Japan's Nikkei fell 165.28 points, or 0.34%, to 48,537.70. U.S. Treasury yields were range-bound following the release of the Fed minutes. The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes fell 0.4 basis points to 4.117%, from 4.121% late on Tuesday. The 30-year bond yield fell 0.4 basis points to 4.7368% from 4.741% late on Tuesday. The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations for the Federal Reserve, rose 0.6 basis points to 3.587%, from 3.581% late on Tuesday. The dollar rose against the yen to its highest level since January as investors await the U.S. jobs report. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.59% to 100.18, with the euro down 0.47% at $1.1524. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar strengthened 0.9% to 156.9. In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin fell 3.95% to $88,808.21. Ethereum declined 7.12% to $2,876.23. Reports of a U.S. proposal to end the Russian war in Ukraine, along with ongoing oversupply concerns, sent crude oil prices sliding. U.S. crude fell 2.14% to $59.44 per barrel, while Brent settled at $63.51 per barrel, down 2.13% on the day.

Gold prices advanced as investors sought safe-haven assets and girded themselves for the delayed employment data, but pared their gains after the Fed minutes were published. Spot gold rose 0.15% to $4,073.87 an ounce. U.S. gold futures rose 0.6% to $4,085.60 an ounce.

(Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additional reporting by Amanda Cooper in London and by Tom Westbrook in Singapore; Editing by Will Dunham and Nick Zieminski)