The “flight to safety” in global markets yesterday, reached a crescendo during afternoon trade in New York, with Wall Street dropping nearly 10 per cent at one point.
Volatility across equities, bonds and currencies surged to levels last seen during the worst of the financial crisis as investors fled risky assets.
At one point in trading the S&P 500 dropped as much as 8.6 per cent while the Dow Jones Industrial Average Gold fell by 998.50 points, or 9.2 per cent. Gold surged above $1,200 an ounce, oil dropped more than $5 a barrel, the yield on 10-year Treasury notes fell 26 basis points to 3.28 per cent, while the yen soared by 5 per cent versus the dollar and 6 per cent against the euro.