Stocks tumble, yen surges as auto bailout fails

LONDON (Reuters) - World stocks tumbled and oil fell 5 percent on Friday while the yen hit a 13-year high against the dollar after the collapse of a $14 billion rescue plan for U.S. automakers.

In a classic flight from risky assets, the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield hit its lowest in more than five decades while sterling hit record lows against the euro and on a trade-weighted basis.

The British economy is viewed as particularly vulnerable.

The U.S. Senate failed to reach a last-ditch compromise to bail out automakers on Thursday, effectively killing any chance of congressional action this year which many say is necessary to prevent a further downturn in the already contracting economy.

"The failure of the auto bill has caused a turbulent session in Asia ... and there is a flight back into safe haven assets," said Investec's chief economist Philip Shaw. MSCI world equity index <.MIWD00000PUS> fell 1.8 percent, having hit a one-month high on Thursday. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of leading European shares <.FTEU3> lost 3.6 percent. Asian shares <.MIAP0000PUS> were down 5.6 percent.

News that Bank of America would cut up to 35,000 jobs and UK bank HBOS took a 8 billion pound hit on bad debts and other charges this year, and a warning from JP Morgan on fourth-quarter performance, hit the banking sector, the epicenter of the credit crisis which began in August 2007.

Bank of America, HBOS and JP Morgan shares fell 9 percent in Europe. JP Morgan's chief executive Jamie Dimon said on Thursday the bank has had a "terrible" November and December.

Emerging stocks <.MSCIEF> fell 3.2 percent.

U.S. crude oil fell 5 percent to $45.57 a barrel as concerns grew over energy demand in the slowing global economy.

In Asia, the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield fell as low as 2.48 percent, its lowest in more than five decades, as capital chased safer government bonds.

The December Bund futures rose 91 ticks.

"Who pressed the self destruct?" French bank Calyon said in a note to clients. "If an automaker does fold this could have a severe impact on the labor market amongst other things."

The low-yielding yen rose as high as around 88.40 per dollar according to Reuters data. Sterling hit record lows against the euro and on a trade-weighted basis. It fell to 89.29 pence per euro.

The dollar <.DXY> rose 0.3 percent against a basket of major currencies.

(Additional reporting by Kirsten Donovan, editing by Mike Peacock)

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