US stocks fell today after JPMorgan Chase bought Bear Stearns at a fire sale price and the Federal Reserve provided emergency cash to Wall Street as the global credit crisis worsened.
But stocks trimmed losses as shares of JPMorgan led advancers, while the Fed's move to cut its discount rate to 3.25 percent and expand lending to a wider range of big financial firms - the first such move since the Great Depression - helped Wall Street ease a bit off early lows.
Futures have been pricing in a 100-basis-point cut from the Fed when it meets tomorrow.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 114.39 points, or 0.96 percent, to 11,836.70. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index shed 23.44 points, or 1.82 per cent, to 1,264.70. The Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 44.78 points, or 2.02 percent, to 2,167.71.
In Dublin the Iseq endured large early falls, at one stage falling more than 5 per cent before rallying slightly to reach 5pm off 278 points or 4.6 per cent at 5721.
Irish banking stocks were hardest hit, with Anglo Irish Bank falling 15 per cent to €6.96 and while AIB shares dropped 6.8 per cent to €12.07.
Bank of Ireland has seen 4.6 per cent wiped off the value of its stock, with the fall bringing its shares to €8.61. Irish Life and Permanent stocks also fell sharply today, dropping over 5.5 per cent to €9.81.
In a fresh sign of faltering confidence in the US economy and financial system, the dollar sank to its weakest against the yen since 1995 and slumped against the euro.
The New York Federal Reserve Bank reported an unexpectedly steep drop in its manufacturing survey and a rise in prices paid. It was the worst reading of business conditions in the state of New York since the index was launched in July 2001.