U.S. stock-index futures, Asian and European equities and the dollar tumbled after the Federal Reserve cut its discount interest rate at an emergency meeting and JPMorgan Chase & Co. agreed to buy Bear Stearns Cos. for $2 a share. Bonds, gold and crude oil climbed.

Indexes in Europe and Asia slid, as UBS AG posted its biggest drop in more than nine years in Zurich and Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. fell to the lowest in four years. Europe's regional benchmark lost 2.9 percent and Hong Kong's slumped 5.2 percent on mounting concern that other financial companies will run short of cash.

The dollar sank to a record low against the euro and the Swiss franc and fell to the weakest in 12 years against the yen, helping push gold and crude oil to highs.

``This is a serious crisis,'' said David Goldman, senior portfolio strategist at Asteri Capital in New York and former head of debt research at Banc of America Securities LLC. ``Something is systemically very wrong and we're at a very dangerous moment.''

The Fed lowered the rate on direct loans to commercial banks by 25 basis points to 3.25 percent to help restore confidence in financial markets shaken by the collapse of Bear Stearns and more than $195 billion in asset writedowns and credit losses worldwide. The action coincided with JPMorgan buying Bear Stearns for about $240 million, less than a 10th of its value last week.

Dollar Slump

Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures expiring in June slumped 1.8 percent to 1,269.7 as of 10:17 a.m. in London. The index will slip into a bear market should it drop below 1,252.12, 20 percent lower than its Oct. 9 record and 2.3 percentage points from its current level.

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