Keep refreshing this page for continued coverage of the world financial crisis.
KEY POINTS:
16.45- The NZX-50 has clawed back some ground this afternoon after opening more It now stands at 3074, a 113 point or 3.7 per cent fall.
Top stock Telecom has fallen 10 cents to $2.68, while Contact Energy is down 45 cents to $7.84. Fletcher Building has fallen 16c to $6.75.
15.30- $1.5 billion has now been wiped off the value of the New Zealand stock exchange in today's trading.
Total capitalisation of the NZX-50 has fallen from $37.1 billion to $35.6 billion.
At the start of this month total capitalisation of the NZX-50 was $39.8 billion.
The NZX-50 is currently down 4.2 per cent, a 128 point fall to 3059. Top stock Telecom has fallen 11 cents to $2.67, while Contact Energy is down 44 cents to $7.85. Fletcher Building has fallen 30c to $6.61.
15.19-HONG KONG: AFP is reporting a 5.6 per cent fall in Hong Kong share prices.
14.02-TOKYO: Reuters is reporting the Nikkei index is now down 4.8 per cent, with exporters and high tech shares hit particularly hard.
13.58-CANBERRA: Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has urged U.S. lawmakers to urgently return to negotiations to come up with a deal that will prevent further infection of world markets.
"This is a bad development," Rudd told reporters in Canberra.
Rudd says Australia's banking system is better regulated than the U.S. system and isbetter prepared for financial shocks, but that the failure was another worrying sign in already tough times.
"The attitude that we will adopt, and I believe other friends and allies of the United States will adopt, is to urge the United States Congress to pass this or a similar measure when it is re-presented to the Congress later this week."
13.52-SYDNEY: Aussie shares are plunging. Within the last half hour the market had seen its biggest fall since January 22 this year - the S&P 200 index down 298.5 points or 6.2 percent to 4,540.7, the All ordinaries by 238.3 points, or 4.92 percent, to 4569.1.
The All Ordinaries market capitalisation had fallen about $A63.5 billion, with the finance sector hit hard. Commonwealth Bank of Australia fell $A2.25, or 5.17 percent, to $A41.62, while Westpac Banking Corporation dropped $A1.15, or 4.92 percent, to $A22.00.
Third-ranked National Australia Bank plummeted $A1.49, or 5.8 per cent to $A24.20, while ANZ Banking Group fell $A1.13, or 6.01 per cent, to $A17.66.
Westpac takeover target St George Bank was $A1.80 lower, or 5.86 percent to $A28.90, while recently-troubled bank and insurer Suncorp-Metway dropped $1, or 9.82 percent, to $8.98.
In investment banking, Macquarie Group fell $5.08, or 13.71 per cent to $A32.12, while Babcock & Brown plummeted 71 cents, or 30.21 percent to $A1.64.
13.25-SYDNEY: Australian shares are heading south in a hurry. The S&P/ASX 200 index has just fallen 5.4 per cent to 4549 - the lowest since 2005.
13.13-TOKYO: Reuters is reporting an opening 1.5 per cent fall in Japan's Nikkei share index.
13.07-SYDNEY: The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has expanded its currency swap line with the US Federal Reserve by a further $US20 billion ($NZ30.11).
The RBA said it and the Fed had agreed on the expansion - which takes the total amount available to $US30 billion - to provide US dollar liquidity in Australia in exchange for Australian dollars.
11.35- CNN is reporting that more than 1 trillion US dollars has been wiped off the value of US shares in the last day's trading.
11.00- The NZX-50 index has now fallen 144 points, a 4.7 per cent drop to 3044. Telecom shares are down 17c to $2.61, Contact Energy shares have fallen 35c to $7.94 and Fletcher Building is down 38c to $6.53.
10.48-WASHINGTON: US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says his agency would use "all the tools available to protect our financial system and the economy" in response to the stunning defeat of the government's proposed $700 billion bailout.
He warned that the same stresses overwhelming the banking industry, including last week's collapse of Washington Mutual -- the biggest bank failure in history -- and the purchase of troubled Wachovia's banking operations by Citigroup on Monday, were also being felt by ordinary families.
"Families, too, feel the credit crunch as it becomes more difficult to get car loans or a student loan," he said.
10.46- New Zealand currency traders are "pensive" this morning with the NZ dollar already down one cent.
Business Herald reporter Tamsyn Parker is on the currency trading floor of the ASB's financial markets dealing room and says the phones are "definitely ringing more than they do on an average day".
Traders are watching a live broadcast of US television channel CNBC.
"People are still in shock," says Parker.
10.36- Nearly all stocks on the NZX are down, with some of the worst hit including Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, down 6.3 per cent, or 18c, early to $2.70. Also down 6.3 percent was Hellaby Holdings, losing 13c to $1.95, while Mainfreight was down 6.4 per cent, or 43c, to $6.32.
Sky City was down 21c to $3.40, Sky TV lost 18c to $4.30, Freightways lost 15c to $3.15, and The Warehouse dropped 15c to $3.02.
Among dual-listed stocks Westpac was down 300c, or 10.5 per cent, to $25.50, and ANZ Banking Group was down $2.29, or 10.1 per cent, to $20.40.
10.28-NEW YORK: Citigroup has agreed to buy Wachovia's banking operations for $2.1 billion in a deal arranged by federal regulators, making the North Carolina-based bank the latest casualty of the widening global financial crisis.
In addition to assuming $53 billion worth of debt, Citigroup will absorb up to $42 billion of losses from Wachovia's $312 billion loan portfolio, with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. agreeing to cover any remaining losses. Citigroup also will issue $12 billion in preferred stock and warrants to the FDIC.
10.20-The New Zealand stock market has opened, the first of the world's bourses to start trading after the shock congressional rejection of the US Govt bank bailout plan. The benchmark NZX-50 index was down 137.46 points pr 4.3 per cent to 3051.08.
Among major stocks, Telecom was down 16c or 5.8 percent early to $2.62, Contact Energy was down 34c or 4.1 percent to $7.95, and Fletcher Building lost 36c or 5.2 percent to $6.55.
By 10am the NZ dollar was down to around US67.15c against the greenback, having been as high as US67.90c soon after the failure of the bailout.
10.08-WASHINGTON:Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says the US administration will continue to work to win approval in Congress for a rescue package for the financial system.
10.00-NEW YORK: Oil prices have plunged more than $US10 a barrel on the bailout plan failure which raised the specter of a prolonged economic downturn that could drastically erode global energy demand.
Light, sweet crude for November delivery sank $10.52, or 10.1 percent, to settle at $US96.36 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after earlier dropping as low as $US95.04. It was crude's lowest trading level since prices edged back below $US100 earlier this month; crude previously hadn't traded that low since February.
9.50-WASHINGTON: JPMorgan Chase's purchase of the failed thrift Washington Mutual will go forward despite the bailout congressional defeat.
Citigroup's acquisition of Wachovia hasn't closed yet.
JPMorgan said last week its $1.9 billion acquisition of WaMu's stressed loan portfolio could result in a $31 billion write down. The bailout plan tentatively agreed to by Congress over the weekend would have allowed JPMorgan to sell WaMu's troubled mortgage-related assets to the government -- at a profit.
9.17-NEW YORK: Wall Street has ended a stunning session with a huge loss, with the Dow Jones industrials plunging nearly 750 points -- their largest point drop ever -- after the failure of the financial bailout plan in the House.
According to preliminary calculations, the Dow fell 777.68, or 6.98 percent, to 10,365.45. The decline also surpasses the 721.56-point intraday decline record also set during the first trading day after the terror attacks. Still, in percentage terms, the decline remained well below the more than 20 percent drops seen on Black Monday of October 1987 and the Depression.
WASHINGTON: The Federal Reserve and foreign central banks agreed to pump billions of dollars into the global financial system Monday to unlock tight lending that threatens to unhinge the U.S. economy.
In taking the action, the Fed cited "continued strains" in the demand for short-term funding.
Central banks will continue to work closely and are prepared to take "appropriate steps as needed" to ease the crisis and get banks lending again, the Fed said.
