ON FRIDAY
Asian shares sought a reprieve as Wall Street eked out gains, bonds rallied and oil boasted its biggest bounce on record, though a panicked rush into U.S. dollars suggested the crisis was far from done.
The dollar's surge is a nightmare for the many countries and companies that have borrowed heavily in the dollar, leading to yet more selling of emerging market currencies in a negative feedback loop.
This was a major relief as the collapse of crude prices had blown a huge hole in the budgets of many oil producers and forced them to dump any liquid asset to raise cash, with U.S. Treasuries a particular casualty.
Funds across the world were fleeing to the liquidity of U.S. dollars, lifting it to peaks last seen in January 2017 against a basket of its peers.
OVERNIGHT
After long interval , Gains in tech stocks had helped the Dow rise 0.95% on Thursday, while the S&P 500 gained 0.47% and the Nasdaq 2.3%.
Aiding sentiment was a 25% rally in oil prices overnight. U.S. crude added another 53 cents to $26.44 a barrel on Friday, up from a low of $20.09, while Brent crude stood at $28.46.
U.S. 10-year Treasuries had climbed over 100 basis points in just nine sessions to reach 1.279%, before steadying a little at 1.15%.
The euro was down near three-year lows at $1.0660, having shed 4% for the week so far - the steepest decline since mid-2010. The dollar was also up 3.2% for the week at 111.33 yen, the largest gain in more than three years.
Sterling sank to its lowest since 1985 after the Bank of England surprised by cutting rates to 0.1%. The pound was last at $1.1484 and down a staggering 6.5% for the week.
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