(Adds open of U.S. markets)
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
* Wall Street retreats after New York issues stay at home
order
* Dollar eases as central banks pledge liquidity
* Stocks gain after volatile week
* Oil set for steepest weekly fall since 1991
By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, March 20 (Reuters) - Wall Street see-sawed on
Friday after New York's governor ordered residents to stay at
home, rattling investors who had taken comfort from fiscal and
monetary stimulus measures to counter the coronavirus shock and
ease unusually volatile markets.
A wave of policy efforts had halted a global scramble for
cash that sharply boosted the dollar this week and had helped
staunch the steep nosedive in global equity markets. Stocks had
gained on Thursday in less-tumultuous trade.
But New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo said he would issue
an executive order to mandate that 100% of the non-essential
workforce stay home and all non-essential businesses close.
"It's spooked people, it spooked the market," said Tim
Ghriskey, chief investment strategist at Inverness Counsel in
New York. "It's all fear, fear of more negative headlines."
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell
31.52 points, or 0.16%, to 20,055.67. The S&P 500 .SPX lost
11.84 points, or 0.49%, to 2,397.55 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC added 25.63 points, or 0.36%, to 7,176.21.
Gold rose more than 3% as it regained a bit of its
safe-haven luster and the yield on U.S. Treasuries fell as
emergency measures aimed at stabilizing financial markets took
hold after days of sharp volatility.
Stocks in Europe notched their first two-day gain since U.S.
and other equity markets tumbled from all-time or near-record
highs in February to their sharpest decline in three decades.
In yet another response to tight markets, six major central
banks announced a coordinated action to enhance liquidity in the
dollar by increasing the frequency of their currency swap
operations. Markets have been reassured by the speedy central bank
action this week but the full fiscal response from governments
remains to be seen and is critical, said Kristina Hooper, chief
global market strategist at Invesco in New York.
"The dash to cash we saw earlier this week has been relaxed
a bit. Now Treasuries are once again perceived to be a
safe-haven asset class," Hooper said. "That's good as it
suggests at least a dialing down of risk-off sentiment."
Norway's central bank became the latest to cut interest
rates while China was set to unleash trillions of
yuan of fiscal stimulus to revive its economy. The dollar eased after currencies, from the Australian
dollar AUD= to the British pound GBP= , tumbled to multi-year
lows earlier this week.
MSCI's U.S.-centric gauge of stocks across the globe
.MIWD00000PUS gained 0.62%, while emerging market stocks rose
5.27%.
The dollar is up about 3.5% against a basket of currencies
=USD through a week when investors liquidated everything from
stocks to bonds to gold and commodities to raise cash. The
dollar hit a three-year peak of 102.99 in early Asian trading.
The dollar index =USD fell 0.33%, with the euro EUR=
down 0.33% to $1.0655.
The Japanese yen weakened 0.71% versus the greenback at
111.52 per dollar.
U.S. home sales surged to a 13-year high in February, but
the housing market recovery is likely to be derailed by the
coronavirus outbreak, which has unleashed a wave of layoffs and
left the American economy headed toward recession. L1N2BD0QT
The global economy already is in recession as the hit to
economic activity from the pandemic has become more widespread,
according to economists polled by Reuters. Oxford Economics cut its global growth forecast for 2020 to
zero, making this year the second-weakest for the world economy
in almost 50 years of comparable data, with only 2009, in the
depths of the global financial crisis, being worse.
European shares jumped as a wave of fiscal and monetary
stimulus tempted investors back into equity markets. The broad
pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX rose 1.44%.
Britain's FTSE .FTSE rose 1%, Germany's DAX .GDAXI
gained 4%, and France's CAC 40 .FCHI rose 5.1%.
The European Central Bank's 750 million-euro emergency bond
purchase scheme, announced on Wednesday, has boosted southern
European debt, alleviating some concern over how already heavily
indebted states would finance the fiscal measures needed to
defend against coronavirus.
Investors in Asia were happy that Wall Street had not
plunged again. South Korean shares .KS11 bounced 7.4%, though
that still left them down more than 11% for the week.
Australia's beleaguered market .AXJO eked out a 0.70%
gain, and futures for Japan's Nikkei .N225 were trading up at
17,710, compared with the cash close of 16,552.
Oil prices fell for the fourth week in a row, with U.S.
crude on track for its worst week since 1991, as the coronavirus
outbreak knocked the demand outlook and Moscow rejected U.S.
intervention in its price war with Saudi Arabia.
West Texas Intermediate CLc1 fell $2.83 to $22.39 a barrel
while Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down $1.24 to $27.23 a
barrel.
Euro zone bond yields tumbled on Friday as risk sentiment
picked up to support Southern European bonds,
Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes US10YT=RR last rose
56/32 in price to yield 0.9464%.