A traders works during the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, New York, the US, March 19 2020. Picture: JOHANNES EISELE / AFP
The US Federal Reserve opened the taps for central banks in nine countries to increase the availability of dollars for contracts made in the US currency in hopes of loosening particularly tight bond markets.The Fed said the swaps, in which the US central bank accepts other currencies as collateral in exchange for dollars, will be in place for at least the next six months.
“All these things kind of happening at once causes a lot of dominoes to fall, and as the dominoes fall, it creates more demand, pushing people towards the dollar,” said Michael Skordeles, US macro strategist at Truist/SunTrust Advisory Services in Atlanta. The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed up 2.9%. Telecom stocks jumped 5% to lead gains while basic resources fell 0.4%.
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