A £50 billion rescue package for banks hit by the credit crunch was unveiled by the Bank of England today.

Free markets, unfortunately, are prone to excess. In the end, we’re all speculators at heart. Most of us can remember pretty clearly what our most recent recession - mostly caused by the internet bubble bursting and exacerbated by 9/11.

Sorry it took so long to post this article. Surprised no one else has.

The Federal Reserve on Tuesday slashed a key interest rate by three-fourths of a percentage point, moving aggressively to contain a credit crisis threatening to push the country into a severe recession.

We may be at the bottom of the downturn for atleast some of the names in the financial sector. Or atleast, Leucadia National thinks so

Interesting article from the Wall Street Journal about John Paulson's $4bn payday and how his funds are up $15Bn since he put on his short ABX trades.

This article tries to make sense of the $15bn estimated writedown that Merrill will probably announce with their earnings on Thursday. It covers some of the basics of losses in the cash and synthetic markets. It also focuses on why Merrill may be very conservative in their marks in an effort to make their future performance look better.