Week in pictures

Monday: Japan's Nikkei index fell 6.4% to its lowest level since 1982 Photograph: Katsumi Kasahara/AP

Monday: In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index plunged almost 12% in late trading Photograph: Vincent Yu/AP

R is for Recession: Recession went from being a fear to a reality for much of the global economy. Germany, Europe's largest economy, became one of the first to fall into the slump, with the US and UK following behind. Japan, New Zealand and Singapore all suffered the effects of a recession. Even emerging economies such as China and India, who many thought could withstand the downturn with their rampant growth, showed signs of faltering Photograph: Sajjad Hussain/AFP

Monday: The Philippine stock exchange saw shares plummet by a record 12.3% Photograph: Cheryl Ravelo/Reuters

Monday: Porsche, the German sports carmaker, was poised to seize full control of Volkswagen after taking its holding close to 75% Photograph: Sebastian Willnow/AFP

Tuesday: BP was at the centre of a huge row after unveiling record quarterly profits of $10bn (£6.4bn) - a rise of 148% Photograph: BRITISH PETROLEUM/HO/EPA

Sunday: Expert David Cole predicted 3 million jobs could be lost in a year if General Motors, Ford and Chrysler were allowed to collapse Photograph: Rebecca Cook/Reuters

Wednesday: Traders at the Chicago Board of Trade await the announcement by the Federal Reserve that borrowing costs are to be cut to 1% Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty

Wednesday: The interest rate cut led to the Dow Jones industrial average surging to its second biggest points gain on record Photograph: Don Emmert/Getty

Wednesday: Alistair Darling defended the government's move to raise borrowing to help the economy during a lecture at London's Cass business school Photograph: PA

Thursday: An electric market board in Tokyo, showing the rally in Asian stockmarkets after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates Photograph: Katsumi Kasahara/AP

Thursday: A Volkswagen car in front of the Deutsche Boerse stock exchange in Frankfurt. Europe's biggest carmaker insisted it would beat last year's record for sales and profits in 2008 Photograph: Mario Vedder/AFP

Thursday: Fluctuations on the German DAX Index at the Frankfurt stock exchange after Deutsche Bank reported steep falls in pre-tax and net profits and a further series of writedowns Photograph: Ralph Orlowski/Getty

Thursday: Shoppers pack into the Westfield shopping centre on its opening day Photograph: Tim Whitby/Getty

Friday: Barclays is raising up to £7.3bn, mainly from Middle East investors who could end up owning nearly a third of the UK's second largest bank Photograph: Daniel Hambury/EPA