Bank of England and Treasury race to stem Covid-19 fallout
Pound plunges to 35-year low against US dollar as UK Bank boss warns of economic crisis
The Treasury and the Bank of England have promised fresh measures to blunt the impact of the Covid-19 virus on the economy, after currency traders delivered a brutal verdict on the global response to the crisis so far.
Sterling tumbled to its weakest level against the US dollar in more than three decades. A flight of speculative money into the haven of the dollar led sterling to crash through $1.20 against the US currency.
The International Labour Organization said the initial impact of Covid-19 would be to add almost 25 million to global dole queues.
Steve Mnuchin, the US treasury secretary, was forced to deny telling the Senate that US unemployment could rise from under 4% to 20%.
Oil prices fell 8% with the cost of Brent crude hitting its lowest level since the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The euro rose against the dollar and the pound after the European Central Bank announced a a750bn (706bn) asset-purchase programme.
The Dow Jones industrial average - a key gauge of share prices in the US - fell below its level on the day of Donald Trump's inauguration in January 2017 and has now dropped 10,000 points in a month.
Related: Markets slide and pound tumbles as Covid-19 crisis deepens - business live
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