Global stocks fell sharply and the dollar tumbled on Monday as a fire sale of Bear Stearns and an emergency Federal Reserve cut of a key lending rate sparked fears that a worldwide credit crisis will claim more casualties.
European shares sank more than 3%, following a sell-off in Asia where Japan’s leading indexes shed more than 3,5%. Wall Street looked set for a sharply downward open.
The dollar hit new lows against the euro and a basket six of major currencies. Oil hit a new high of nearly $112 a barrel on the weaker dollar.
Investors dived into safe haven assets, lifting gold to more than $1 030 an ounce at one point and sending yields on short-dated euro zone debt below 3% for the first time in more than two years.
”The markets are in a complete state of panic and in such situations there is no such thing as valuation or value in any asset,” said Michael Klawitter, FX strategist at Dresdner Kleinwort in Frankfurt.
In a shock move late on Sunday, the Fed lowered the discount rate it charges on direct loans to banks to 3,25% from 3,50% and implemented steps to provide cash to a wider range of financial firms, using tools last used in the Great Depression.
Minutes earlier, JP Morgan Chase had said it would buy Bear Stearns for a rock-bottom price of $2 a share, valuing the US investment bank at the centre of a widening global credit crisis at about $236-million.
JP Morgan and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York temporarily bailed out Bear Stearns on Friday after a deterioration in its liquidity, one the worst cases yet in a broad-based drying up that has been going on since mid-2007.
‘Desperate times, desperate measures’
Investors are now nearly fully pricing in a one percentage point cut in the main federal funds rate at or before the Fed’s policy meeting on Tuesday.
That would take US rates down to just 2%.
”Desperate times need desperate measures. The Federal Reserve is doing what it takes to restore stability,” said Craig James, chief equities economist at Commsec in Sydney.
There were also signs of continuing liquidity worries.
The Bank of England said it would offer £5-billion ($9,85-billion) of three-day funds later on Monday in an exceptional fine-tuning operation designed to bring overnight interest rates down.
”This action is being taken in response to conditions in the short-term money markets this morning,” the bank said in a statement.
Market strategists said there was a deep distrust between banks when it came to lending.
”It’s quite illiquid this morning. If you want unsecured cash you’re really going to have to pay up for it. It’s really quite an intense situation,” said David Keeble, head of rate strategy at Calyon.
Stocks, dollar down
Equity markets took a hefty hit across the world as uncertainty grabbed hold of investors.
”It is really — and I don’t want to use the broadly quoted word ‘panic’ here — but it is an absolute confidence crisis and a liquidity crisis. Nobody trusts anyone anymore. It is not a nice situation,” said Roland Hirschmueller, an equities trader at German brokerage Baader in Stuttgart.
European shares tumbled. The FTSEurofirst 300 was down 3,2%.
Earlier, Japanese stocks fell to about a two-and-a-half year closing low, dragged down by exporters worried about a rising yen.
The Nikkei average fell 3,7% or 454,09 points to end at 11 787,51, its lowest finish since August 8 2005.
The broader TOPIX index shed 3,7% or 43,58 points to 1 149,65, the lowest close since June 2005.
The dollar plunged across the board.
It slid as much as 3% in early Monday trading as low as ¥95,77 according to Reuters data, the lowest since 1995, and set fresh all-time lows at 0,9637 Swiss francs.
It later recovered to ¥96,91 and 0,9834 Swiss franc.
The euro soared as high as a new record $1,5904 before dropping back to $1,57533.
The weak dollar drove oil prices higher. Crude for April delivery was up 55 cents at $110,73 a barrel, off a record $111,80 hit earlier.
Investors dived into safer assets. Spot gold hit $1 030 an ounce, before falling back to around $1 023 an ounce.
”Gold will be the main beneficiary [of the falling dollar] as a hedge against global risk,” said Australia & New Zealand Bank senior commodities analyst Mark Pervan.
When the US currency falls, the price of gold, like that of oil, tends to rise as investors with dollars buy it to lock in value and non-dollar investors find it cheaper.
Investors also bought bonds. Short-dated euro zone government bond yields were at their lowest in over two years and implied rates down.
The two-year cash yield fell 11 basis points to 2,957%, its lowest since early 2006. – Reuters