Wall Street's bloody Sunday

In case you haven't been paying attention, here's what's happening. Lehman Brothers, one of the largest and oldest US investment banks, is going bust, barring an unlikely last-minute government bailout. Merrill Lynch, for years one of the titans of Wall Street, hocked itself in a firesale to a rival, Bank of America. And AIG, one of the world's largest insurance firms, is begging for a $40bn emergency loan from the US government to stave off its own destruction. In the words of the Wall Street Journal: "The American financial system was shaken to its core".

Wall Street in turmoil

Lehman Brothers said it would file for bankruptcy protection and Merrill Lynch rushed into a $50bn takeover with Bank of America after a dramatic weekend on Wall Street. The Federal Reserve is making it easier for financial institutions to access Fed liquidity by easing terms on its borrowing facilities and accepting a much wider range of assets as collateral.

Wall Street was in turmoil on Monday as Merrill Lynch found shelter in a $50bn takeover by Bank of America and Lehman Brothers said it would file for bankruptcy protection.

Merrill Lynch gets fresh $6.6bn injection

"Merrill Lynch on Tuesday said it had raised $6.6bn by selling preferred shares to investors from the Middle East and Asia, as part of a second injection of funds to help shore up the US investment bank’s capital base."