GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks fall, gold rises despite global rate cuts
NEW YORK, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Panic selling again swept global equity markets on Wednesday after a coordinated worldwide cut in interest rates failed to bolster the battered confidence of investors who jumped into gold and other safe-havens.
U.S. stocks were highly volatile, however, briefly turning higher in the early afternoon after falling more than 2 percent, after European shares sank to a near five-year closing low.
Investors at first had warmed to a one-half percentage point cut in interest rates by the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and other key central banks around the world, the first coordinated move since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
But confidence was short-lived, and the price of government debt, stocks and crude oil swung wildly. Short-dated euro zone government bonds rallied and gold held onto strong gains as investors fled to safe-havens.
The benchmark FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares, after falling nearly 8 percent in early trade, recouped most of its losses after the rate cuts only to slide anew.
Keeping investors on edge were credit markets, which remained tight despite the coordinated effort to pry them open.
'Global central banks took on the rate cuts because they wanted to unfreeze the credit market, but credit spreads are still widening,' said Brian Dolan, chief currency strategist, at Forex.com in Bedminster, New Jersey.