Monday starts out hopeful. By day's end, those hopes are dashed, as the House kills the bailout bill and stock markets plunge to new lows.
On the last day of Sept. 2008, one of the wildest, scariest months in U.S. financial history, the Wall Street-Washington roller-coaster starts climbing again.
For Wall Street and Washington alike, September 2008 was the cruelest month in almost a century. Follow events day by day as they happened and were covered on CNBC.
The Cuban missile crisis took days, but the drama of the U.S. financial crisis of 2008 lasted for weeks—and the brooding uncertainty of each day took months to dissipate. For much of September and October, fear drove Wall Street and Washington into a one-of-a-kind symbiosis. Though it's too soon to describe the crisis as bygone, a year has passed. For the next 30 days, CNBC will give you a snapshot of each day in September, putting events and analysis in perspective.
False optimism wars with bad omens. Lehman Brothers gained 5 percent following news that Ospraie Fund, a commodities fund in which Lehman had a 20 percent stake, was closing and would return money to investors after incurring big losses in 2008. The dollar hit an 11-month high against the euro, as belief spread that the credit crunch tsunami would turn on Europe—and that the U.S. had already weathered the worst.
White knights are hard to nail down as the savvy start hedging their bets and bear season arrives on Wall Street. The Lehman Brothers rumor mill heats up and investors turn a cold shoulder on stocks, as the indices enter bear-market territory.
For the troubled financial sector, Saturday brings no rest. The U.S. plans to bring mortgage finance firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under Federal control, according to reports. The move could constitute the biggest financial bailout in American history. And shareholders are facing the prospect of a wipeout.
The U.S. markets may be closed Sunday, but that doesn't stop rumblings and news on the financial front. Lehman Brothers officials are hoping to finalize plans to raise capital and sell off bad debts sometime this coming week. And U.S. Treasury officials expect to buy $5 billion of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securities within the next month, as part of the takeover of the mortgage finance giants.
Monday sees a dawn for markets...a false dawn. Investors rejoiced that the U.S. Treasury will take over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, seeing a sign that housing troubles are over. Stock markets all over the world rocket upward. But not everyone shares the . Lehman Brothers ends the day down 13 percent. Why?
On Tuesday, Lehman Brothers starts playing defense. Reports say Lehman management is considering moving up the release of its third-quarter earnings, which had been scheduled for next Thursday. Opinion is split on fannie and Freddie — with on builder calling a bottom.