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Paris - Key events that hit financial markets, companies and consumers in the year now ending:
January
- The US Federal Reserve, or central bank, makes the first of several interest rate cuts.
- Crude oil prices go over $100 per barrel for the first time ever. Gold also rockets.
- Bank of America buys Countrywide, the US's biggest mortgage lender, which is struggling in a falling market.
- The French bank Societe Generale says that a trader, Jerome Kerviel, lost €4.9bn ($7.15bn) through unauthorised trades.
February
- Germany faces a huge tax evasion scandal after a prosecutor turns up evidence that hundreds of people were hiding assets in Liechtenstein.
- The British government nationalises Northern Rock, a major bank involved in risky property loans.
March
- Gold tops 1 000 dollars an ounce.
- Bear Stearns becomes the first big US investment bank to get into trouble due to exposure to subprime, or risky, property loans. It is sold off in a deal engineered by the central bank.
April
- The giant Swiss bank UBS announces massive losses due to risky investments.
- Rising world food prices cause riots in Egypt and several sub-Saharan African countries.
May
- High fuel prices cause protests by fisherman and truckers in several European countries.
June
- The US unemployment rate rises by a half percentage point to 5.5%, the biggest leap in two decades.
July
August
- A five-day war between Russia and Georgia brings new concerns for oil prices and the West's energy security.
September
- The US administration takes over Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, giant institutions which underpin most of the country's property loans.
- Lehman Brothers bank files for bankruptcy.
- On September 15 the US stock market plunges by more than 4.4%. Markets also crash around the world.
- The US government steps in to save American International Group, one of the world's biggest insurers. In Britain, Lloyds TSB bank swallows up HBOS, a competitor threatened with bankruptcy.
- Fortis bank is bailed out by Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, while France and Belgium step in to save the Dexia bank.
- The US administration draws up a $700bn operation to mop up banks' "toxic" mortgage debt.
October
- World stock markets crash again on October 10.
- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown proposes concerted action to save the world's banking system.
- Iceland nationalises its biggest banks amid a massive credit crunch due to borrowing abroad.
November
- Democrat Barack Obama wins the US presidential election. The United States reports another huge jump in unemployment to 6.5%.
- The Chinese government announces a huge economic stimulus plan, which briefly lifts world stock markets.
- The International Monetary Fund warns of a global recession for 2009.
December
- Details emerge of a worldwide financial pyramid scheme run by a top US financier, Bernard Madoff. Losses are expected to reach $50bn.
- European Union leaders draw up a concerted €200bn ($260bn) plan to hold off a recession.
- After much hesitation, US President George Bush announces help for his country's two biggest auto companies.
- Oil prices fall below $40 a barrel.
- The Russian ruble drops to a three-year low against the dollar.
- AFP