New Century Financial Corp., a major subprime lender, files for bankruptcy.
The stock market hits an all-time high, with the Dow at 14,164.
The recession officially begins. The unemployment rate stands at 5 percent.
The Fed creates a Term Auction Facility to lend to ailing financial institutions.
The Fed reduces short-term interest rates for the fifth time in four months, to 3 percent. (The rate was 5.25 in September 2007.)
President George W. Bush signs the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, which gives individuals a tax rebate and encourages business investment.
Brokerage firm Bear Stearns collapses and is bought out by JPMorgan Chase.
The Fed reduces short-term interest rates to 2 percent.
General Motors files for bankruptcy and says it will close 14 US plants.
For the first time in history, the Fed lowered its benchmark interest rate to zero.
The federal government takes over mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Lehman Brothers files the largest bankruptcy case in US history.
The Fed bails out insurance giant AIG.
The unemployment rate peaks at 10 percent, hitting double digits for the first time in 26 years.
Bush signs into law an emergency bailout package that establishes the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
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The Dow suffers its worst weekly loss in history, falling 1,874 points, or 18 percent.
The Fed's short-term interest rate, after several more drops, hits 1 percent.
The US government unveils a massive rescue package for Citigroup.
The Fed creates a program (Term Asset-Backed Securities Lending Facility, or TALF) to support owners of securities backed by credit-card debt, student loans, auto loans, and small-business loans.
The US Treasury gives out the first TARP money, totaling $125 billion, to nine banks.
The government bails out General Motors and Chrysler, offering an initial $13.4 billion from the TARP fund.
US home prices peak after decades of financial deregulation and government promotion of home ownership.