Sep 15, 2008. The venerable
Lehman Brothers investme...
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
more

Sep 15, 2008. The venerable
Lehman Brothers investme...
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/...

______________________________
_________

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/BU
SINESS/...

Category News & Politics

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