Stocks surged Wednesday, potentially snapping Wall Street's longest losing streak in more than two years, as bond yields retreated around the world following a surprise intervention in Gilt markets from the Bank of England.
The move, painted as an attempt to restore stability in financial markets, will see the central bank purchasing more than £1 billion in government bonds in the £2.1 trillion Gilt market amid an historic slump in the pound.
Moody's Investors Service said the U.K.'s credit rating was at risk from the government's plans to boost borrowing by around $80 billion in order to pay for tax cuts, while media reports indicated the the government is asking banks not to bet against the pound as it hovers near historic lows against the dollar at 1.0665 even after the unprecedented BoE intervention.
Still, yields on benchmark 30-year U.K. Gilts fell more than 1% following the BoE announcement, the biggest single-day decline since 1992, while 10-year paper was marked 40 basis points lower at 4.07%.
World stocks, in fact, are trading at their lowest levels in more than two years as the dollar -- the principal beneficiary of the current risk-off sentiment -- continues to print fresh twenty year peaks against its global currency peers.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six global currencies, was marked 1.15% lower in New York trading at 112.79 while benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields, which topped 4% for the first time since 2008 overnight, fell more than 23 basis points to 3.731% after the Bank of England unveiled its intervention plans.
Stocks on Wall Street ended higher. The S&P 500 rrose 1.97%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 548 points, or 1.88% to end 29,683. The tech-focused Nasdaq gained 2.05%.
The dollar's relentless climb added further downward pressure on oil prices, which were also in the red as traders discounted near-term demand from some of the world's biggest energy buyers, sending WTI crude closer to $78 a barrel, the lowest in 9 months, during overnight dealing.
The path of Hurricane Ian, however, continues to suggest at least some disruption for drillers in the Gulf of Mexico. The category 4 storm made landfall on the west coast of Florida well south of Tampa. It is expected to move northward across the state towards the Atlantic ocean early Thursday morning.
Oil also jumped $2.56 to $81.15 per barrel after the Energy Department reported a surprise 215,000 barrel decline in domestic stockpiles.
Market volatility is also back with a vengeance as the Vix index, also known as Wall Street's 'Fear Gauge' jumped 2.1% in early trading to a near six-month high of 33.27 points.
In Europe the region-wide Stoxx 600 was marked 0.27% higher by the close of trading in Frankfurt while Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.3%.
Biogen (BIIB) shares rocketed nearly 40% after the drugmaker and its Japan-based partner Eisai Co Ltd. unveiled better-than-expected results from a late-stage stud of their developing Alzheimer's treatment.
Apple (AAPL) shares, meanwhile, fell 1.3% following a report that suggested the world's biggest tech company will scrap plans to boost iPhone production amid fading consumer demand.
