* Stocks rise on upbeat U.S., European corporate earnings
* Australian dollar hits post-float high vs dollar
* Gold touches an all-time high above $1,500/ounce (Updates prices, adds comment, details, changes byline, dateline, previous LONDON)
By Wanfeng Zhou
NEW YORK, April 20 (Reuters) - Upbeat earnings and outlooks from companies including chipmaker Intel lifted global stocks and renewed risk appetite on Wednesday, driving commodities higher and the Australian dollar to a post-float high.
Solid corporate earnings in the U.S. and Europe bolstered optimism about the economy and offset concerns of sovereign debt problems on both sides of the Atlantic after Standard & Poor's threatened on Monday to cut the United States' prized AAA credit rating.
"It seemed like the earnings season got off to a bit of a shaky start, but now companies are coming through with very strong results, by and large," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Asset Management in Bedford Hills, New York.
"This really shows that corporations are delivering strong results and benefiting from the slow but steady economic improvement."
World equities measured by MSCI All-Country World Index <.MIWD00000PUS> advanced 1.9 percent, extending the previous session's 0.5 percent rise and further recovering from Monday's 1.6 percent loss.
Intel
Major U.S. stock indexes jumped more than 1 percent at the open. The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 156.29 points, or 1.27 percent, at 12,421.75. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was up 15.53 points, or 1.18 percent, at 1,328.15. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was up 43.48 points, or 1.58 percent, at 2,788.08.
Japan's Nikkei average <.N225> rose 1.8 percent, snapping a three-day losing run, and the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> rose 1.7 percent. Emerging market stocks <.MSCIEF> climbed 2.3 percent.
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Asset returns in 2011:http://r.reuters.com/zub29r
Inflation-adjusted vs. nominal gold price:
http://r.reuters.com/ren88r
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Societe Generale said in a note that hedge funds were cautious on U.S. equities, keeping short positions on the S&P 500 <.SPX> and the Russell 2000 <.RUT>, though they were net long on Japanese equities.
SPANISH BOND AUCTION
An increase in risk sentiment, along with a well-received bond auction from Spain boosted the euro to its highest in 15 months against the U.S. dollar.
The euro rose 1.2 percent versus the dollar to $1.4515
Yields on 10-year Spanish government bonds
"Investor focus is on the earnings season in the U.S. and this is key in driving growth expectations and pushing stock markets higher. This keeps focus away from the euro zone periphery right now," said Manuel Oliveri, currency strategist at UBS in Zurich.
Higher-yielding currencies such as the Australian dollar
Against a basket of currencies <.DXY>, the U.S. dollar fell 0.6 percent to 74.388.
The soft dollar boosted commodities, with copper
Gold
(Additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak and Nick Olivari in New York, Dominic Lau, Brian Gorman, Neal Armstrong, Kirsten Donovan, Emelia Sithole and Simon Jessop in London; Graphics by Scott Barber) (Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio)