* Euro jumps in short covering as ECB measures disappoint
* Wall St falls most since Sept, European stocks most in 3
mos
* U.S. dollar has biggest decline in over six years
* Oil jumps on OPEC meeting speculation and dollar weakness
(Updates U.S. market close, adds commentary)
By Sinead Carew
NEW YORK, Dec 3 (Reuters) - U.S. and European stocks closed
down sharply on Thursday and the euro enjoyed its biggest
one-day percentage rise in well over six years as investors
reacted to the European Central Bank's latest policy easing
measures.
U.S. bond yields saw their biggest daily rise in more than
two years after the ECB cut its deposit rate by the minimum 0.1
percentage point most traders had expected, to -0.3 percent. It
extended its asset purchase program but did not increase the
amount of government bonds it buys each month.
Oil futures were boosted by the sharp decline in the dollar
and speculation ahead of Friday's OPEC meeting.
The euro EUR= surged 3 percent against the dollar. Last
week, speculators had amassed the largest short position in the
euro since May in anticipation of more ECB stimulus.
"People were very, very short euros," said Jason Leinwand,
managing director at Riverside Risk Advisors in New York.
"People were looking for a bigger cut in rates out of the ECB
and they didn't get it."
Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 stock index .SPX had its
biggest one-day percentage decline since Sept. 28, also in
reaction to the European monetary policy move.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 252.01 points,
or 1.42 percent, to 17,477.67, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 29.89
points, or 1.44 percent, to 2,049.62 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC dropped 85.70 points, or 1.67 percent, to 5,037.53.
Earlier in the day the FTSEurofirst .FTEU3 ended down 3.3
percent as trading screens went red across the region in that
index's biggest daily percentage drop since Aug. 24.
U.S. benchmark 10-year Treasury notes US10YT=RR were last
down 1-10/32 in price to yield 2.326 percent, up from a yield of
2.178 percent Wednesday. The yield on the 2-year US2YT=RR note
rose to 0.994 percent, its highest since April 2010.
Some of the selling in markets was said to result from
leveraged funds targeting low volatility across several asset
classes. Those funds are forced to respond to the simultaneous
jump in volatility in bonds and stocks that occurred Thursday,
because it exposes them to greater losses.
According to Bank of America (N:BAC) research, these funds - which
were heavily involved in the dramatic selloff in late August -
have since returned to the level of leverage they had prior to
that downturn.
The dollar index .DXY , which measures the greenback
against a basket of major currencies, fell 2.2 percent in its
biggest one-day percentage decline since March 18, 2009.
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 this month.
"The biggest influence was the Draghi talk this morning. It
didn't satisfy the U.S. markets," said Peter Tuz, president of
Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Crude oil futures surged, recouping all of the previous
session's losses on hedging ahead of the meeting of the world's
largest oil producers, while a tumbling dollar boosted demand
for most commodities.
U.S. crude CLc1 settled up 2.9 percent or $1.14 at $41.08
a barrel and Brent LCOc1 settled up 3.2 percent or $1.35 at
$43.84.
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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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