Back to gloom and doom, I'm afraid...
The lower house of the US congress has rejected the $700bn deal to bail out Wall Street. The rescue plan - the result of tense negotiations between the government and lawmakers - was voted down by 228 votes to 205 votes.
US President George Bush was said to be “very disappointed” by the result. Shares on Wall Street began to plunge as soon the announcement that the bill failed was made. The Dow Jones index lost 770 points - 6.9% - its biggest one-day point drop yet.
The shock effect of the failure to pass a financial bail-out plan in the US Congress has also left Asian stock markets reeling.
Meanwhile:
Fortis, Belgium's biggest financial-services firm and one of Europe's top 20 banks was partly nationalised by the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.
Ministers from the three countries agreed to put 11.2bn euros ($16.1bn; £8.9bn) into Fortis to save the bank. Apparently the Dutch-Belgian financial group's biggest mistake was joining in the 70bn euro purchase of the Dutch bank ABN Amro last year (along with Britain's Royal Bank of Scotland and Spain's Santander). Fortis was seen as too big a European bank to be allowed to go under. Its assets are greater than the size of Belgium's annual domestic economic output.
Shares in German lender Hypo Real Estate plunged after it struck a loan deal with a consortium of German banks. The bank had been in emergency talks with the various German banks regarding short-term and mid-term credit arrangements.
The Icelandic government has taken control of the country's third-largest bank, Glitnir, after the company faced short-term funding problems. The government has bought a 75% stake in the bank for 600m euros ($860m; £478m) to ensure stability of the bank during the current financial turmoil.
The British government has confirmed that mortgage lender Bradford and Bingley is to be nationalised? Under the arrangement, the government will take control of Bradford and Bingley's £50bn in mortgages and loans. B&B's £20bn savings business and branch network will be bought by rival Abbey, which is in turn owned by Spanish banking group Santander, who already owns Abbey, and recently bought Alliance & Leicester.
Wachovia, the fourth-largest US bank, is being bought by larger rival Citigroup in a rescue deal backed by US authorities. Under the deal, Citigroup will absorb up to $42bn (£23bn) of Wachovia losses. Wachovia has been hit by problems in the US housing market.
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