Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Brazil's real weakened the most in more than two weeks as worse-than-forecast reports on U.S. employment and German manufacturing added to evidence the global economy is slipping into recession.

The decline prompted the central bank to step into the market twice and buy reais in a bid to stem the slide. The bank also sold currency swaps to ease the losses.

``There is a deterioration in the outlook for economies and at this point nobody knows how deep the problem is,'' said Mario Paiva, a strategist in Rio de Janeiro at Liquidez Corretora, Brazil's largest currency derivatives brokerage.

The real fell 4 percent to 2.2182 per U.S. dollar at 3:04 p.m. New York time, from 2.1295 yesterday. The decline is the biggest since the currency fell 5.9 percent on Oct. 22. The real has lost almost 30 percent from a nine-year high of 1.5545 on Aug. 1 as the global financial crisis has eroded demand for higher-yielding, emerging-market assets.

Brazil has bought $5.1 billion worth of reais in the spot currency market to prop up the local currency through Nov. 5, central bank President Henrique Meirelles said in a speech in Brasilia. The bank started using its international reserves to buy reais in the spot market on Sept. 18.

Meirelles said the monetary authority has lent $8.9 billion of foreign reserves and pumped the equivalent of $26 billion in the currency market by using dollar swap contracts.

Manufacturing orders in Germany, Europe's largest economy, dropped 8 percent in September, the most since records for a reunified Germany began in 1991, a government report showed. In the U.S., the number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits rose to the highest level since 1983, adding to speculation the Labor Department will announce a jump in the unemployment rate for October in a report tomorrow.

Commodities, Stocks

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said he can't rule out another reduction in the benchmark interest rate after the bank cut borrowing costs a half-point today to 3.25 percent. The Bank of England unexpectedly cut its benchmark interest rate by 1.5 percentage points to 3 percent to the lowest since 1955.

Commodities, which account for about two-thirds of Brazil's exports, sank today, adding to declines in the real.

Stocks slumped around the world, further eroding demand for emerging-market securities. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 3.8 percent.

The yield on Brazil's zero-coupon bond due in January 2010 rose 7 basis points, or 0.07 percentage point, to 15.53 percent, according to Banco Votorantim.

To contact the reporter on this story: Adriana Brasileiro in Rio de Janeiro at abrasileiro@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 6, 2008 15:07 EST