The US dollar suffered a severe sell-off on Friday, taking it to its weakest level against a trade-weighted basket of currencies since October 1997, in a tumble that helped to trigger falls across world equity markets. Worries about US inflation, which have intensified since the US Federal Reserve’s rate-setting open market committee met on Wednesday, sparked further sharp losses for US stock markets. The Nasdaq Composite fell a further 1.3 per cent after a 2 per cent fall on Thursday, while the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies was down more than 5 per cent for the week. US government bonds also suffered, bringing the yield on the benchmark 10-year bond to its highest level in four years. The dollar has lost 7 per cent against the euro, yen and sterling since the start of April – a slide that will in turn intensify worries about inflation in the economy. Traders are concerned about the role a weaker dollar will have in correcting the US current account deficit, which is now about 7 per cent of GDP. The tabular content relating to this article is not available to view. Apologies in advance for the inconvenience caused. […]