EVEN by the standards of the worst financial crisis for at least a generation, the events of Sunday Spetember14th and the day before were extraordinary.The weekend began with hopes that a deal could be struck, with or without government backing, to save Lehman Brothers, America’s fourth-largest investment bank.It ended with Lehman’s set for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and the bank preparing to wind itself up after those efforts failed.Other vulnerable financial giants scrambled to sell themselves or raise enough capital to stave off a similar fate.Merrill Lynch, the third-biggest investment bank, sold itself to Bank of America (BofA), an erstwhile Lehman suitor, in a $50 billion all-stock deal.American International Group (AIG) brought forward a potentially life-saving overhaul and went cap-in-hand to the Federal Reserve.
即使以至少一代人所經(jīng)歷的最壞的金融危機的標準來看,上周六及周日(9月14日)的事件仍是非同尋常的。那個周末開始于拯救美國第四大投行雷曼兄弟的交易有望達成,無論有或者沒有政府的支持。然而卻以雷曼兄弟的所有努力均告失敗后,根據(jù)美國破產(chǎn)法案第11章申請破產(chǎn)保護而告終。其它脆弱的金融巨頭同樣努力 地將自己賣出或是籌集足夠的資金以避免與雷曼相同的命運。第三大投行美林以500億美元全額換股交易將自己賣給了以前雷曼的收購者–美國銀行。美國國際集團(AIG)正在提出一個潛在的挽救重整方案,并且畢恭畢敬地照美聯(lián)儲臉色行事。