The dollar has plummeted against all major currencies on dire US retail sales and fears that the Federal Reserve may need to slash interest rates further to stop the downward spiral in the credit markets, The Telegraph reports.

The greenback broke below 100 yen in a day of wild trading, setting off alarm bells at Japan's Keidanren industry lobby. It touched a record $1.5620 against the euro and came within a whisker of parity with the Swiss franc for the first time in history.

The plunge came amid an investor flight into commodities, seen as a way of insulating wealth from the dollar's decline. In the US, crude oil reached a record $111 a barrel despite rising inventories.

A shock fall of 0.6% in February retail sales cemented fears that the US is sliding into a fully fledged recession. The markets are now pricing in a three-quarter point cut in rates to 2.25% next week.

WHEN THEY COME to write the history of the credit crunch, the collapse of Carlyle Capital Corporation will get a chapter all of its own. What started as an innocuous offshoot of the American buyout group has overnight turned into one of the most high-profile and catastrophic failures of the crunch so far, according to The Times.

That Carlyle, one of the world's largest and most influential private equity groups, could not rescue its mortgage-backed fund speaks to the sheer panic sweeping through global markets.

Banks had every reason to help Carlyle. CCC was one of 60 funds owned and managed by the respected Washington-based group. Over the years, banks have earned millions (probably billions) in fees from Carlyle, so it was in their interests to work hard to get a deal done.

But in the end, so great was the fear gripping Wall Street that one by one all 14 of Carlyle's “relationship” banks decided to pull the plug. And where Carlyle has fallen, dozens of others are now set to follow.

THE US-LISTED hedge fund manager GLG Partners is set to join the gold rush for deals in China and India, after buying a 29% stake in a local private equity group, The Independent reports.

The alternative asset manager yesterday announced it had paid £17.1m for the holding in Origo Sino-India, an investment and strategic consulting company focused on the private equity markets in the two emerging markets. It is GLG's first move to establish a presence in the region.

The groups have signed a memorandum of understanding to target asset management and advisory opportunities in China, India and other emerging markets.

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