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This is Money
Panic swept the credit markets on reports of an insolvency crunch at both the US investment bank Bear Stearns and the mortgage giant Fannie Mae, triggering a dramatic surge in default insurance and rumours of yet another emergency rate cut by the US Federal Reserve.
Market panic after Bear Stearns reports
Lehman Brothers has begun this week to dismiss 5 per cent of its workforce as the deepening credit crisis eats away at investment banking revenues and the sector prepares for a recession.
Lehman Brothers starts to shed 5 per cent of workforce
The crisis in Carlyle Capital Corporation, the Dutch affiliate of the American buyout giant Carlyle, increased yesterday after the fund said it was in emergency talks to prevent the unwinding of $16 billion (8 billion) of assets.
CCC crisis as lenders demand repayment
Buyout firm goes $170 million in the red, warns credit crisis will worsen, and gives its executives elevenfold pay rise.
Pay rises as Blackstone predicts gloom
Europes economic leaders sounded renewed warnings yesterday over the euros relentless rise against the embattled dollar, in the latest sign of mounting eurozone anxiety over the single currencys sky-high valuation.
Joaquin Almunia calls for concerted action to halt collapse of US
Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, said yesterday that central bankers remained on alert as inter-bank lending rates climbed outside the US.
ECB 'on alert' over interbank rates
Hopes that the Bank of England may soon deliver further interest rate cuts receded yesterday as figures suggested that the economy has yet to slow drastically, while inflationary pressures persist.
Early rate cuts unlikely as sales growth holds up and prices rise
The housing market is in a worse position than at any time since 1990 - the start of the last housing crash, according to a survey of estate agents and surveyors. Potential buyers are reluctant to view homes and there is a growing number of properties on the market, forcing sellers to cut their prices.
Homes market worst since 1990
Alistair Darling is to curb energy companies' profiteering from the poor and elderly through pre-payment meters. The Chancellor plans to use reserve powers to cap tariffs on meters which have allowed utilities to make profits of up to 400 million a year from their poorest customers.
Energy companies' profiteering to be curbed
The Irish banking system faces acute strains and may require a phase of temporary nationalisation as the property slump leads to a wave of defaults, according to a leading Irish economist.
Irish banks may need life-support as property prices crash
China's Bank of Communications may follow other large Chinese financial institutions by buying a stake in a western lender.
China's BoCom looks west
Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who gained national prominence relentlessly pursuing Wall Street wrongdoing, has been caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel last month, according to a law enforcement official and a person briefed on the investigation.
Scandal-hit NY governor 'sorry'