A tumultuous weekend on Wall Street has led to the expected bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the US Federal Reserve acting to prevent panic in the markets.
 
Staff at Lehman’s New York offices packed their bags yesterday after news broke that Britain’s Barclay’s had pulled out of a deal to save the US giant.  
 
America’s fourth largest investment bank was expected to file for bankruptcy.  
 
In a bid to prevent the crisis deepening the Fed has for the first time said it will accept stocks in exchange for cash loans to financial houses needing a bail-out.
 
How much stability that will bring remains to be seen.  Traders around the world are expecting a big impact on the market.. 
 
In other weekend developments Bank of America bought Merril Lynch and ten of the world biggest banks established an emergency fund to stave off collapse.

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