* Global stocks slip as U.S. bank plan disappoints
* Government debt jumps on flight to safety bid
* Dollar, yen gain after Treasury's rescue package
* Oil falls on stimulus package concerns, demand forecast
(Adds close of U.S. markets)
By Vivianne Rodrigues and Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, Feb 10 (Reuters) - A revamped U.S. Treasury plan
to shore up the ailing U.S. banking system failed to inspire
investors on Tuesday, who drove stocks sharply lower and bid up
the price of safe havens like bonds, the dollar and gold.
The Dow shed 380 points and the benchmark S&P 500 index
tumbled almost 5 percent after the Treasury rolled out a
financial rescue plan worth possibly more than $2 trillion to
mop up bad bank assets and revive consumer lending.
But investors were disappointed that U.S. Treasury
Secretary Timothy Geithner provided scant details about the
highly anticipated plan, and stock markets sold off.
Oil fell 5 percent to below $38 a barrel on concerns the
Treasury plan and an $838 billion stimulus package passed in
the U.S. Senate came too late to stem a deep recession.
Gold shot above $900 an ounce while the dollar and yen
gained as investors took shelter in both currencies.
Analysts said they were disappointed that the Treasury plan
appeared thin on details, particularly its focus on a public
and private partnership to rid ailing banks of billions of
dollars worth of tainted assets.
"There is an inability to price these assets in a way that
is acceptable, so we're kind of where we were over a year ago,"
said Stephen Wood, senior portfolio strategist at Russell
Investments in New York.
The KBW Banks index <.BKX> tumbled 13.9 percent and the S&P
financial index <.GSPF> slid 10.9 percent.
Geithner did not provide enough "new information and maybe
that is what the market doesn't like. There was a grand
build-up, but content was not as dramatic," Wood said.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> fell 382.39 points,
or 4.62 percent, to 7,888.48. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index
<.SPX> was down 42.75 points, or 4.91 percent, at 827.14. The
Nasdaq Composite Index <> was down 66.83 points, or 4.20
percent, at 1,524.73.
European shares closed lower. The pan-European FTSEurofirst
300 <> index of top shares ended down 2.9 percent at
805.94 points, also stirred by mixed reaction to a roughly $7
billion fourth-quarter net loss from Swiss bank UBS <UBSN.VX>.
MSCI's all country index <.MIWD00000PUS> fell 3.6 percent,
while overnight in Asia, Japan's Nikkei stock average <>
slipped 0.3 percent to close at 7,945.94.
As investors turned away from riskier assets such as
stocks, demand for U.S. Treasuries rose.
"Given all this time they (U.S. policy-makers) still don't
have anything very specific nailed down," said Carl Lantz, U.S.
interest rate strategist at Credit Suisse in New York, adding
"that's going to be a disappointment for risky assets and it's
good for the bond market."
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note <US10YT=RR> rose
42/32 in price to yield 2.84 percent, while the 2-year U.S.
Treasury note <US2YT=RR> gained 6/32 in price yield 0.91
percent.
Euro-zone government bond futures extended gains, drawing a
safety bid in reaction to the U.S. Treasury Department's plan.
March Bund futures <FGBLH9> were up 68 ticks on the day at
122.38 after trading around 122.12 before details of the plan.
Crude fell after the U.S. Energy Information
Administration revised down its 2009 global oil demand forecast
by 400,000 barrels per day from its previous outlook,
predicting demand will fall by 1.17 million bpd this year from
2008 levels.
U.S. crude <CLc1> fell $2.01 to settle at $37.55 a barrel.
London Brent <LCOc1> settled down $1.41 at $44.61 a barrel.
The dollar rose against a basket of major currencies, with
the U.S. Dollar Index <.DXY> up 0.96 percent at 85.695.
The euro <EUR=> fell 0.95 percent at $1.2886. Against the
yen, the dollar <JPY=> fell 1.29 percent to 90.28.
The low-yielding dollar and yen are typically viewed as
safe-haven currencies with low volatility. When stocks drop and
the risk barometer shoots up, investors repatriate funds and
close out losing risky trades funded by these two currencies.
Spot gold prices <XAU=> rose $20.95 to $915.45 an ounce.
(Additional reporting by Glenn Somerville in Washington, Ellis
Mnyandu, Burton Frierson, Matthew Robinson and Nick Olivari in
New York and Joanne Frearson in London; Editing by Chizu
Nomiyama)
