| A man walks outside the New York Stock Exchange on March 14, the day that shares in Bear Stearns bank fell by some 50%. Towards the end of 2007, the severity of losses to US banks incurred over sub-prime mortgages was beginning to emerge. In the | first months of 2008, rising interest rates together with increasing unemployment and a slowdown in the housing market, meant that many borrowers could no longer afford payments on their homes. Banks involved heavily in such debts were threatened with collapse. | |
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