Investors' willingness to take risk rose on Thursday but stocks pared gains a day after coordinated global interest rate cuts gave some calm to jittery markets worldwide and curbed the appeal of safe-haven assets. US stocks plunged in the final hour of trading Thursday, sending the Dow Jones industrial average down 678 points, or more than 7 percent, to its lowest level in five years after a major credit ratings agency said it was considering cutting its rating on General Motors Corp. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 34.26 points, or 1.97 percent, at 1,706.07. The Standard &Poor's 500 index also fell more than 7 percent. The declines came on the anniversary of the closing highs of the Dow and the S&P. The Dow has lost 5,585 points, or 39 percent, since closing at 14,198 a year ago. The S&P 500, meanwhile, is off 655 points, or 42 percent, since recording its high of 1,565.15. Demand for government bonds, gold and low-yielding currencies - all recent beneficiaries of investors who have scrambled for relative safety - fell. European shares slid for a fourth day on Thursday, ending steeply lower despite an early rally as bank and oil shares slipped and fears of a global recession hit investors on both sides of the Atlantic. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares closed down 2.1 percent at 921.46 points, its lowest close since November 2003. The index has shed more than 15 percent so far this week, placing it on track for its worst week on record. European shares are down 38.8 percent so far this year, hit by a credit crisis that has frozen interbank lending, pushed banks deep into the red and slowed the economy, hitting several industrial sectors. Banks reversed earlier gains to track US peers which fell on persistent fears that the widening credit crisis will tip the global economy into recession. The drop in financials also followed the expiration of a US ban on short selling. The UK's FTSE 100 index ended down 1.2 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 2.5 percent and France's CAC 40 dropped 1.6 percent. Gold slipped as investors cashed in gains that took the precious metal to a nine-day high in the previous session. December gold futures settled down $20 at $886.50 an ounce in New York. Oil prices closed at their lowest level in a year Thursday, falling below $85 a barrel even after OPEC signaled it may try to slow crude's downward spiral by cutting production. In London, November Brent crude fell $1.70 to settle at $82.66 on the ICE Futures exchange, after earlier falling to a one-year low of $80.40. Crude has shed about $60 – or 40 percent of its value – since soaring to a record $147.27 on July 11. The massive losses come as a global financial downturn forces people and businesses everywhere to cut back. Fearful that oil prices could fall too far and harm their petroleum-dependent economies, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said it would hold an extraordinary meeting Nov. 18 in Vienna, Austria to discuss the widening economic crisis and how it's affecting the oil market. In the currency markets, yen fell broadly and higher-yielding currencies bounced as extreme risk aversion receded after key central banks around the world cut rates on Wednesday in a coordinated response to halt the worst global financial crisis in almost 80 years. The cost of interbank borrowing overnight cash fell in response to the coordinated effort by financial authorities to restore calm to jittery markets. The cost of dollar, euro and sterling funds for the overnight rate all fell substantially, although by less than one-half percentage point. The rate cuts were aimed in large part at unclogging the commercial paper market and keeping businesses humming. Meanwhile, the cost of borrowing dollars for any period beyond the overnight rate rocketed. Three-month dollar Libor hit its highest this year as banks scrambled for greenbacks to cover US currency positions and to fund dollar assets. “We're not seeing any relief in term Libor fixings which tells us that the rate cut has exclusively impacted on the overnight market but it hasn't touched the Libor market at all,” said BNP Paribas rate strategist Alessandro Tentori. “And that's not a very good sign,” Tentori said. US Treasuries fell for a third straight day as debt supply issues weighed on investor sentiment, while rising stock prices on Wall Street sapped any safety bid for bonds. The benchmark 10-year US Treasury note fell 30/32 in price to yield 3.77 percent, and the 2-year US Treasury note fell 7/32 in price to yield 1.67 percent.
