Turmoil as Lehman Brothers collapse sends shockwaves around the globe
Updated on 15 September 2008
As US investment bank Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy, the authorities fight to stop the financial instability from spreading.
"It's a nightmare. Death. It's like a massive earthquake", was the reaction of one Lehman Brothers worker. Thousands of staff don't know whether they will be paid at the end of this week.
Receivers said the collapse would leave hundreds of billions of dollars in liabilities. Across the world markets have tumbled.
In London an estimated £50bn was wiped from the value of leading shares. The FTSE 100 index dropped almost 4 per cent, finishing over 200 points down.
Germany's DAX index fell by more than 2.5 per cent, while a short time ago the Dow Jones in New York was down by more than 2 per cent.
Among the sectors worst hit in today's turmoil was banking. HBOS shares finished the day down 17 per cent. Royal Bank of Scotland shares fell 12 per cent.
New York's governor warned that as many as 30,000 Wall Street jobs could be lost.
This is, said one analyst, one of the most brutal days on record. Now the authorities are battling to prevent financial instability from spreading still further.
Confidence was already fragile. Now, with three of America's biggest finance houses felled by the crisis, from jobs to pension funds, the impact is inescapable.
