HONG KONG, April 20 (Reuters) - The surge in global equity markets in recent weeks is a false rally because more financial shocks are in store and the U.S. economy is weak, said an economist who predicted much of the current crises.

Nouriel Roubini, a professor at New York University's Stern School of Business and chairman of independent economic research firm RGE Monitor, said stock markets may not have reached bottom.

"I'm still cautious and bearish," he said. "I believe we are closer to a bottom in the stock market than a year ago but this is a bear-market rally."

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI has surged 22.7 percent since early March, its strongest six-week run since 1938, as investors have started putting money back into equities on some tentative signs or a recovery.

But Roubini offered a note of caution following the rally on Wall Street and in world markets.

"I think the market is way ahead of real economic and financial data. I think people are deluding themselves," Roubini told reporters during a business lunch in Hong Kong on Monday. He said problems at U.S. financial institutions had not been fully revealed and forecast their losses would rise to US$3.6 trillion from US$1 trillion so far during the crisis.

"I see financial shocks in the months ahead. Some financial institutions are in so much trouble we may have to take them over," he told the audience.

He expects U.S. unemployment to top 11 percent in 2010, up from 8.5 percent in March, which will add to loan defaults. Half of hedge funds could go out of business in the next few years.

Non-financial companies' earnings will also disappoint in coming months and put pressure on financial markets, he said.