* Euro up, European shares slump as ECB measures disappoint
* Wall St falls, U.S. dollar has biggest decline in years
* Oil jumps after report Saudi Arabia to call for OPEC cut
(Updates to U.S. afternoon trading, changes byline, dateline;
previous LONDON)
By Sinead Carew
NEW YORK, Dec 3 (Reuters) - U.S. and European equity markets
slumped on Thursday and the euro enjoyed its biggest one-day
percentage rise since March 2009 on investor disappointment over
the European Central Bank's latest policy easing measures.
The ECB cut its deposit rate by the minimum 0.1 percentage
point most traders had expected, to -0.3 percent, and extended
its asset purchase program but did not increase the amount of
government bonds it buys each month.
Oil futures jumped on speculation ahead of an OPEC meeting
on Friday. Stocks on Wall Street had initially risen at the
open, but then sharply fell as trading progressed.
The euro EUR= surged 3 percent against the dollar, while
government bond yields rose. Speculators as of last week had
amassed the largest short position in the euro since May in
anticipation of more ECB stimulus. Shorter term two-year German
bonds had their sharpest gain since 2011. GVD/EUR
"Markets are still trying to digest the implications of the
ECB disappointing market expectations," said Steven Englander,
head of G10 foreign exchange strategy at Citi in New York. "The
market is taking the message that the ECB will be less willing
to ease down the road as well."
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 186.03 points,
or 1.05 percent, to 17,543.65, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 24.25
points, or 1.17 percent, to 2,055.26 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC dropped 75.05 points, or 1.46 percent, to 5,048.17.
European shares saw their biggest one-day drop in more than
three months. The FTSEurofirst .FTEU3 dropped 3.3 percent, the
index's biggest daily drop since Aug. 24, as trading screens
went red across the region.
The news also pushed up yields on U.S. Treasuries along with
rising European yields. The yield on the 2-year US2YT=RR note
rose to 0.99 percent, its highest since April 2010. U.S.
benchmark 10-year Treasury notes US10YT=RR were last down
1-13/32 in price to yield 2.336 percent, up from a yield of
2.180 percent on Wednesday.
The dollar index .DXY , which measures the greenback
against a basket of major currencies, was down about 2 percent
in afternoon trading in its biggest one-day percentage decline
since March 2009.
"The (ECB) commentary clearly caught people by surprise. I
think most currency traders were short the euro and long the
dollar, expecting different commentary from chairman (Mario)
Draghi," said Michael James, managing director of equity trading
at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles.
The ECB news overshadowed Federal Reserve chief Janet
Yellen's suggestion on Thursday that the central bank would
raise interest rates for the first time in a decade at the Fed's
policy meeting later this month.
Gold XAU= was up 0.9 percent, rebounding from a more 6
year low earlier in the session.
Crude futures surged, lifted by the weaker dollar and a
report sourced to a senior OPEC delegate that Saudi Arabia would
next year propose a deal to balance oil markets with non-OPEC
help. But oil-producing countries looked unlikely to reach a
deal to lift languishing prices at an OPEC meeting on Friday
after Iran, Iraq and Russia swiftly rejected a surprise proposal
that appeared to have been floated by Saudi Arabia.
Short-covering after Wednesday's price slump of more than 4
percent also helped Brent and U.S. crude futures rebound. U.S.
crude CLc1 settled up 2.85 percent at $41.08 a barrel and
Brent LCOc1 rose 3.4 percent to $43.92. O/R
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ECB rates, inflation and euro http://link.reuters.com/jer39v
Global assets in 2015 http://link.reuters.com/dub25t
Currencies vs dollar http://link.reuters.com/tak27s
Commodities performance http://link.reuters.com/rac73w
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