Stock Market Crisis: The Tip of the Iceberg
THE TELEGRAPH: Switzerland's top banker has warned of massive losses from the unfolding credit crisis, describing the collapse in US lending standards as "unbelievable".

Jean-Pierre Roth, president of the Swiss National Bank, said market turmoil was far from over as tremors from the sub-prime debacle continued to rock the world.

"We're certainly not at the end of the story. There are question marks surrounding the development of the American economy," he said. "Something unbelievable happened. People who had neither income nor capital got credit with very attractive conditions. Now reality is striking back," he said.

In Germany, the state bank SachsenLB admitted that it had received a €17.3bn bail-out after its investment arm Ormond Quai racked up huge losses on US sub-prime debt. It had previously denied holding direct exposure to sub-prime.

The revelation came as traders braced themselves for another turbulent week, with mounting expectations that central banks may soon cut rates to prevent market mayhem leading to an economic downturn. Traders braced for another torrid week (more) By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard and Yvette Essen

THE TELEGRAPH:
Business comment: Sub-prime crisis is the edge of a financial hurricane (more) By Bernard Connolly

Mark Alexander

World's Stock Markets Suffer Heavy Losses
BBC: The UK's main share index has closed down sharply as concern over the impact of turmoil in the US sub-prime lending market continues to haunt investors.

While US shares were falling still further in early Wall Street trading, London's FTSE 100 ended the day down 4.1% or 250 points at 5,859.

This is the first time since October that the FTSE has closed below 6,000.

The falls came despite the Federal Reserve pumping an extra $17bn ($8.6bn) into the US banking system.

Central banks have been taking such action to try and restore confidence and avoid a credit squeeze.

Over the past week, the Fed has now injected $88bn (£44.3bn), while the European Central Bank has put up 211bn euros ($283.2bn; £142.6bn). Heavy losses sweep world markets (more

FAZ:
Der Crash geht weiter

LE FIGARO:
La bourse de Paris dégringole sous les 5300 points

Mark Alexander