Charts & Numbers

The US federal reserve has set an emergency interest rate cut on Sunday. The news shocked the global economy. This is the biggest sign of how devastating the credit crisis is for Wall Street.

“The fear is how many more skeletons in the closet are still there in the global credit markets? …This is another effort by the Fed to calm things down, but the cloud on the horizon is just how much more of these credit issues are still out there.”

- David Cohen, economist at Action Economics in Singapore.

The market has shrugged off news that the Fed has announced fresh emergency measures to stem the quick spreading financial crisis. It is claimed the tools they are using have not been used since the Great Depression. The weakening dollar has spurred fresh new records across the board.

• Euro $1.5905
• Yen 95.77
• Gold 1,030

“The Federal Reserve in close consultation with the Treasury is working to promote liquid, well functioning financial markets, which are essential for economic growth. To that end we took two steps today… These steps will provide financial institutions with greater assurance of access to funds,”

- Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve Chairman