The global financial crisis

The story of the financial crisis is divided into five stages:

1. the prelude, leading up to the March 2008 takeover of Bear Stearns;
2. the gradual deterioration in financial conditions from mid-March to the failure of Lehman Brothers on 15 September 2008;
3. from mid-September to late October, a global loss of confidence, a massive flight to quality and the near collapse of the financial system;
4. from late October, the severe decline in the global economy; and
5. beginning in mid-March 2009, the deepening downturn and the first signs of stabilisation.