Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy threatening most acute financial catastrophe in decades
DEBKAfile: September 15, 2008, 7:49 AM (GMT+02:00)
Sunday night, Barclays and the Bank of America dropped out of bidding to buy Lehman Brothers, the fourth biggest investment bank in the world, and the federal government said there would be no bailout. Ten US and foreign banks have set up a $50bn fund to save troubled companies. The Bank of America opted to save Merril Lynch from buckling instead of Lehman. AIG is also in danger with disastrous effect on the world insurance industry.
Tokyo, Singapore and Hong Kong stock exchanges were closed Monday by a holiday and insulated from the backlash from New York, but US stock markets are set to tumble when they open promising Monday will be a financial Ides of September. The collapse of the three biggest names on Wall Street threatens to wipe out many billions of dollars from pension funds and the banking and insurance industries in a worldwide chain reaction.
This is the beginning of the end...
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