Emergency session on in New York
An emergency Sunday trading session on Wall Street was extended by two hours yesterday evening in an attempt to prevent financial markets going into meltdown today.
In what is reckoned to be an extremely rare event, the session initiated by the US Federal Reserve was aimed at allowing financial institutions to get their potential liabilities in some form of order as news emerged of the impending demise of Lehman Brothers.
Wall Street's International Swaps and Derivatives Association said it was opening for business to allow derivatives traders to take stock of their positions.
The trading session allowed dealers to trade credit, equity, interest rates, foreign exchange and commodity products was originally slated to run from 2p to 4pm New York time.
With news emerging of the crisis at Merrill Lynch, the trading session was extended to 6pm.
Even with the emergency session, traders were predicting a volatile session after the bell when Wall Street opens later today, as further news of the size of Lehman's debts emerges.
