Week in pictures

The week in figures:
Monday - FTSE 100 down 210 points at 5202.4; Dow Jones plunges 504 points to 10,917.51
Tuesday - FTSE down 178.6 to 5025.6; Dow up 141.5 at 11,059
Wednesday - FTSE down 113.2 at 4912.4; Dow down 449 at 10,609
Thursday - FTSE down 32.4 at 4880; Dow closes 410 points higher at 11,019.69
Friday - FTSE surges 431.3 points to 5311.3; Dow up 386.10 at 11,405.79 Photograph: Cheryl Ravelo/Reuters

On the weekend of September 13/14, teams of investment bankers from Lehman Brothers flooded the US Federal Reserve to explore rescue options. The US investment giant filed for bankruptcy protection in the early hours of Monday morning after these frenzied rescue attempts failed Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty

Thousands of staff at Lehman, the fourth largest bank on Wall Street, faced redundancy, but not everyone had sympathy Photograph: Chris Hondros/Getty

Later in the week it emerged that some of Lehman's UK staff (seen here outside the London HQ) could be thrown a lifeline in a Barclays buyout of the bank's US operations Photograph: Andrew Winning/Reuters

When Lehman went bankrupt on Monday, Edouard D'Archimbaud found himself surrounded by journalists at the bank's Canary Wharf HQ. His story was particularly depressing – having overcome the disruption caused by the Eurostar fire he, like the other graduate trainees, found that his Lehman career was over Photograph: Ben Stansall/Getty

The Lehman news was dramatic enough as traders got to their desks on Monday morning. But they had to digest an event of equal magnitude - Merrill Lynch bargaining away its 94-year history as an independent Wall Street brokerage by agreeing to a $50bn (£28bn) takeover by Bank of America Photograph: Peter Foley/EPA

Also on Monday, the US government seized control of the insurance giant AIG, which sponsors Manchester United, in an $85bn emergency rescue to avert total meltdown in the already fragile financial system Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

But Merrill Lynch's newly recruited chief executive, John Thain, stands to share a $200m (£111.4m) payout Photograph: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

The FTSE 100 index closed down 212.5 points on Monday, meaning £50bn had been wiped off the value of Britain's top companies. In monetary terms more was wiped off top companies than was lost in the stock market crash of 1987 Photograph: PA Wire/PA

Markets in Japan and China, which were closed on Monday, caught up with the upheaval on Tuesday, while the FTSE fell a further 178.6 points Photograph: Pichi Chuang/Reuters

On Wednesday, trading was suspended on Russia's two main stock exchanges after shares fell dramatically for a second day in succession. The markets then staged a dramatic comeback on Friday when they reopened Photograph: Dmitry Kostyukov/AFP

On WednesdayHBOS shares bounced as the City's faith in a rescue for the deal was renewed. Gordon Brown's support seemed to help, pushing HBOS shares up 21%. The company's shares rose further on Thursday, ending up 22p at 170.10p Photograph: Newscast

Thursday morning saw the announcement the market was expecting - Lloyds TSB agreeing to take over HBOS for £12.2bn in a move that will cause thousands of job losses and branch closures Photograph: Murdo Macleod/Murdo Macleod

On Thursday, Sir Victor Blank, the chairman of Lloyds TSB, revealed that he struck the HBOS deal with Gordon Brown at a City drinks party on Monday in a quid pro quo - Lloyds would keep lending to first-time buyers if the government waived the usual competition rules for takeover bids Photograph: Lewis Whyld/PA

On Thursday, the world's leading central banks tried again to ease the growing stress in the global money markets with coordinated action to provide $180bn (£100bn) in extra liquidity. The FTSE 100 initially moved higher on the news, but fell back at the close Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty

April 1 2008, London, UK: The Red Arrows and four Typhoon fighters fly by the glass skyscrapers of the City of London to help mark the RAF's 90th anniversary Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty

Hank Paulson, Goldman Sachs
Total remuneration: £119.9m (since 1999 or during length of service)
Bank market capitalisation (August 2007): £37.8bn
Bank market capitalisation (now): £24.6bn
Credit crunch hits (since August 2007): £19.4bn
Photograph: Getty

Marks & Spencer chief Sir Stuart Rose called on the government to do all it could to restore consumer confidence as the high street giant unveiled dire Christmas trading, the closure of 27 stores and confirmed more than 1,200 staff were to be axed in a bid to cut costs Photograph: Newscast

The gloomy economic climate failed to dampen enthusiasm for Damien Hirst's work. The two-day sale of Hirst pieces - which included several paintings featuring butterflies - set a record of £111m for an auction dedicated to one artist, Sotheby's said Photograph: PA

The airports operator BAA put Gatwick up for sale on Wednesday, with Virgin Atlantic and Macquarie Group touted among the possible buyers Photograph: Getty

Woolworths said it had slumped to a £99.7m loss in the six months to August and was 'manifestly not' performing well. Thursday's positive industry-wide retail figures surprised analysts Photograph: Sarah Lee

The ONS announced that unemployment last month suffered its biggest rise since the early 1990s, with the number of people claiming jobless benefit rising by 32,500 in July Photograph: Daniel Berehulak/Getty