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| A man looks at the stock prices for Lehman Brothers, Merril Lynch and AIG as they peer through the window of the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York. Photo: Reuters |
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US shares have gone into a
freefall as part of a global
rout after a bankruptcy at
Lehman Brothers stoked fears
about the stability of the
American financial system. The
demise of the venerable
investment bank, coupled with
a 50-billion-US-dollar
takeover of brokerage Merrill
Lynch by Bank of America, and
growing concerns about insurer
AIG, led to the worst day on
Wall Street in six years. the
Dow lost more than 500 points
to end 4.4 percent down. Other
indices were also hit hard --
the Nasdaq shed 3.6 percent, while the S&P 500 tumbled 4.7
percent. President Bush, in
his first comment on the
financial turmoil, said the
administration was working to
minimize its impact. He said
he was confident of the long
term resilience and
flexibility of capital
markets. |
