Full Money Market

Sep 15, 2008.
The venerable Lehman Brothers investment bank said early Monday that it will file for bankruptcy, while Bank of America unveiled plans to buy Merrill Lynch — two pieces of news that profoundly alter the American financial landscape.

The fast-paced changes capped a roller-coaster Wall Street weekend and threatened to stir up U.S. financial markets already reeling from woes at other major financial firms and mortgage financing titans Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

“This crisis is clearly deeper than anybody had imagined only a short time ago,” Peter Stein, an associate editor at The Wall Street Journal in Asia, told CNN.

Lehman Brothers said in a statement early Monday that it plans to file for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The 158-year-old investment bank had been undermined by bad bets on real estate — the value of its shares declined 94 percent this year.

The fall of Lehman followed a wild, three-day scramble by top Wall Street executives and federal regulators, who worked around the clock to come up with a solution to a still-unfolding financial crisis.

By the end of the weekend, the Federal Reserve had stepped in to try to calm the markets by announcing plans to loosen its lending restrictions on the banking industry.

A consortium of 10 leading domestic and foreign banks agreed to create a $70 billion fund for loans to troubled financial firms.

Source:

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/09/15/banks.bigchanges/index.html

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Sep. 15, 2008.
Global markets were reeling Monday after a convulsive day on Wall Street that saw a leading U.S. investment bank file for bankruptcy and other institutes scramble to merge as the credit crunch claimed one of its biggest victims yet.

Stock prices plunged in Asia and Europe in the wake of investment bank Lehman brothers announcing its collapse and Bank of America’s $50 billion buyout of ailing brokerage Merrill Lynch.

This crisis is clearly deeper than anybody had imagined only a short time ago,” Peter Stein, an associate editor at the Wall Street Journal in Asia, told CNN.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 330 points or 2.9 percent to around 11091 in early trading. In Europe, FTSE index in London declined 3.37 percent while the Paris CAC 40 was down 4.47 percent.

Major Asian indexes were closed but India’s Sensex fell 5.4 percent, Taiwan’s benchmark dropped 4.1, Australia’s key index dropped 2 percent and Singapore fell 2.9.

The turmoil followed a roller-coaster weekend for a Wall Street already concussed by woes at other major financial firms and mortgage-financing titans Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

At one point the U.S. Federal Reserve was forced to step in, announcing plans to loosen lending restrictions to the banking industry in an effort to calm markets, while a consortium of 10 leading domestic and foreign banks agreed a $70 billion fund to lend to troubled financial firms.

In an effort to calm market jitters, the European Central Bank on Monday said it has pumped $42.6 billion into money markets. The Bank of England in London also took steps, offering nearly $9 billion in a three-day auction.

Source:
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/BUSINESS/09/15/lehman.merrill.stocks.turmoil/index.html#cnnSTCText

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