- September 5
- Arizona Senator John McCain is nominated as US Presidential candidate for the Republican party, with Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin as vice presidential candidate. [35]
- General election in Angola: ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola wins re-election landslide, with over 80 percent of vote. [263.56]
- The Russian stock market total value drops to 30 percent since the invasion of Georgia on August 8. Up to US$20 billion in foreign capital has been pulled out of Russia during August. [57]
- September 6
- Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, is elected Pakistan's new president, with 481 of 702 votes. [57] [263.47] [310]
- At least eight boulders dislodge from a cliff near Cairo, Egypt, killing at least 90 and burying an estimated 500 people. [310]
- September 7
- General election in Hong Kong: pro-China parties win 30 seats, pro-democracy parties win 23 seats, others win 7 seats. [263.57]
- American mortgage companies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are taken over by the US government, due to their risk to the economy. The two companies account for nearly half of home mortgages in the US. The two firms will be administered by the Federal Housing Finance Agency until their long-term future is decided. Together, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae own or guarantee about US$5.3 trillion of mortgages and have made a combined loss of about US$14 billion in the past year. [57]
- September 9
- Asif Zardari is sworn in as president of Pakistan. [263.16]
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- Canada's TSX closes up 848.42 points, or 7.03 percent, a record one-day gain. [105]
- The Constitutional Court of Thailand orders Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej to resign, after he is paid for appearing on a television cooking show. [310]
- September 10
- Lehman Brothers investment bank of New York posts a record quarterly loss of US$3.9 billion. [35]
- The Large Hadron Collider in Geneva first begins accelerating protons. The Collider can measure events within a millionth of a billionth of a billionth of a second. [5] [263.87] [310]
- China's tainted-milk scandal begins, with melamine-laced milk from Sanlu dairy farm resulting in tens of thousands of children sick. [264.77]
- An undersea earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale hits the eastern Moluccas islands. [35]
- September 12
- A Metrolink train collides head-on into a freight train in Los Angeles, California, killing 25 and injuring 130. [310]
- September 13
- Hurricane Ike hits Galveston, Texas, as Category 2, causing estimated damage of US$27 billion, 3rd costliest in US history. [275.34] [310] [377.19]
- September 14
- Aeroflot Flight 821 crashes near the city of Perm, Russia, killing all 88 on board. [310]
- September 15
- 158-year-old American investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc files for bankruptcy protection, becoming the largest U.S. bankruptcy. Lehman's assets total about US$639 billion, leveraged by only US$30 billion of equity. [35] [310]
- American investment bank Merrill Lynch & Company agrees to sell itself to Bank of America Corp, for US$50 billion. Stock in Bank of America drops 21.3 percent, reducing market value by US$33 billion. [35]
- Following negotiations, President Robert Mugabe and opposition leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara sign a power-sharing deal, making Tsvangirai the new Prime Minister of Zimbabwe. [310]
- September 16
- The U.S. House of Representatives passes legislation lifting a ban on offshore oil drilling, opening most of the U.S. coastline to exploration. [35]
- The U.S. Federal Reserve Board announces the Federal Reserve Bank of New York will lend up to US$85 billion to the American International Group, and the U.S. government will receive a 79.9 percent equity interest in AIG. [35]
- September 17
- Somchai Wongsawat, brother-in-law of ousted Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra, wins a majority parliamentary vote to become the country's new prime minister. [57]
- The International Astronomical Union classifies Haumea as the fifth dwarf planet in the Solar System. [310]
- Russia's Moscow stock markets are closed after stocks fell to the lowest level in almost three years. The country's Finance Minister plans to support the three largest banks with 60 billion rubles (US$2.3 billion) in loans. [57]
- September
- Heritage Auction Galleries sells a 1911 $500 Bank of Canada Queen Mary note graded VF-20 for US$322,000, a record for a Canadian note. [455.5]
- September 20
- South African president Thabo Mbeki resigns at the request of the African National Congress. [264.33] [310]
- September 21
- In Islamabad, Pakistan, a suicide truck bomb kills at least 54 people at the Marriott Hotel. At least 270 people were injured in the blast. [57] [264.58] [310]
- The US Treasury proposes to Congress a fund worth up to US$700 billion of taxpayer money to buy back much of the bad debt held by banks and other financial institutions. [57]
- Nearly 13,000 children in China are hospitalised after drinking the milk of the Sanlu Group containing the industrial chemical melamine; four have died. Melamine was first found in baby milk powder made by the Sanlu Group. [57] [264.11]
- September 22
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average removes American International Group from its index, replacing it with Kraft Foods. [227]
- Argentine's president Christina Fernández de Kirchner announces the government would possibly settle with all debtors from the 2001 default. [264.49]
- Microsoft unveils plans to spend US$40 billion buying back its shares from investors, the biggest single buy-back plan in history. [57]
- September 23
- In Kauhajoki, Finland, 22-year-old student Matti Juhani Saari kills ten people at a college before shooting himself and later dying in hospital. [57]
- September 24
- Japan's parliament confirms Taro Aso as the country's new prime minister, following the sudden resignation of the last prime minister, Yasuo Fukuda, in early September. [57] [310]
- France's EDF announces it will buy British Energy for 12.5 billion pounds (US$23.2 billion). [264.70]
- September 25
- Kgalema Motlanthe is sworn in as interim president (until an election) of South Africa, replacing Thabo Mbeki. [57] [264.33] [310]
- From the Jiuquan spaceport in Gansu province, China launches the Shenzhou VII capsule atop a Long-March II-F rocket. This is China's third manned space mission, with astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming, and Jing Haipeng. [5] [57] [310]
- U.S. regulators seize bank Washington Mutual, the biggest bank failure in the nation's history, and sell its assets to JPMorgan Chase & Company for US$1.9 billion. Washington Mutual was the largest savings and loan bank, with $307 billion of assets and $188 billion of deposits. [35]
- September 26
- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announces it plans to build a space defense system and a new fleet of nuclear submarines by 2020. [35]
- September 28
- Election in Austria: Social Democratic Party 30 percent, People's Party 26 percent, Freedom Party 18 percent, Alliance for Austria's Future 11 percent. [275.16,56]
- Election in Belarus, all 110 seats won by candidates loyal to President Alyaksandr Lukashenko. [275.57]
- China's Shenzhou VII space capsule returns to Earth after a successful mission orbiting the planet. The astronauts conducted experiments, and Zhia Zhigang made China's first space walk. [57] [518.62]
- Space X launches the Falcon 1 rocket into orbit, the first privately-developed liquid-fuel rocket into space, at a cost of under US$10 million. [275.86] [310]
- Ecuadorians vote 64 percent to approve new constitution. [275.40]
- September 29
- Wachovia Corp, fourth largest US bank, agrees to sell most of its assets to Citigroup Inc for US$2.16 billion in a deal brokered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. [35]
- The American Federal Reserve announces it will lend a further US$620 billion to other national central banks. [275.73]
- Morgan Stanley sells 21 percent of itself to Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, for US$3 billion, plus a further $6 billion of convertible preferred stock. [35]
- The Belgian, Dutch and Luxembourg governments take a 49 percent stake in Fortis bank giving it a 11.2 billion euro (US$16.4 billion) injection of cash. [35]
- The U.S. House of Representatives votes 228-to-205 to reject a US$700 billion bailout plan for the financial industry. [35] [275.11]
- The Dow Jones industrial average posts its largest point decline ever, 778 points, 6.98 percent of total value. The benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 Index has its worst day since the 1987 crisis with an 8.8 percent drop, or 106.59 points. The Nasdaq Composite Index loses 199.61 points, or 9.14 percent. Latin American stocks tumble 13 percent, their biggest decline in more than a decade. Gold price jumps up, and US crude oil drops $10 to close at US$96.37 per barrel. World stocks, as measured by the MSCI's world index, lose about $1.7 trillion for the day. [35] [57] [105] [227]
- Canada's TSX stock market index drops a record 840.93 points, to 11,285.07. [105]
- September 30
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average rebounds by 485.21 points (4.68 percent), the third largest one-day point gain. [227]
- A Jodhpur temple stampede in western India kills over 224 people, and injures 400. [310]
- October 1
- Denmark demonetizes the 25-øre coin, and begins removing it from circulation. [443.60]
- October 2
- The U.S. Senate votes 74-to-25 to endorse a revised US$700 billion bank bailout plan. It involves the Treasury buying bad loans from institutions. The plan, rejected by the House earlier, was revised to include a tax cut and extended federal protection for bank deposits. [35] [275.30]
- October 3
- The U.S. House of Representatives approves the modified US$700 billion bank bailout plan, voting 263 in favor, 171 against. President George Bush quickly signs the bill into law. [35] [265.9] [310]
- US President George Bush tells congress the US will sell US$6.5 billion worth of weaponry to Taiwan. [265.56]
- October 4
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average drops below 10,000. [265.9]
- The Russian stock market drops almost 20 percent. [265.9]
- Death of Edward Albert "Ted" Briggs at age 85, last of three susvivors of the sinking of the HMS Hood in World War II. [276.102]
- October 5
- Germany's government finance ministry agrees to a 50 billion euro (US$70 billion) plan to save private Hypo Real Estate, one of the country's biggest banks. [57]
- In Geneva, Switzerland, David Feldman's Rarities of the World auction. Some highlights:
- Russia 1857 10-kopek stamp and 1858 30-kopek stamp on cover: 1,314,500 euros (US$1,794,818), a record for a Russian philatelic item;
- China 1883 5-candareen stamp, nine on cover: 1,165,125 euros (US$1,590,861), a record for a Chinese philatelic item;
- USA 1847 5-cent and 10-cent, proof panes of 100 stamps each, with specimen overprints: 850,000 euros (US$1,160,590).
[788.1] [798.3]
- October 6
- Iceland's banks collapse. [564.3]
- NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft makes its second of three flybys of Mercury, decreasing the velocity for orbital insertion on March 18, 2011. [310]
- An earthquake measuring 6.6 magnitude kills at least 65 in Kyrgyzstan. [310]
- The UK's FTSE 100 stock market index records its biggest ever one-day points fall since 1984, 391.1 points, or 7.85 percent, representing a drop of 93.4 billion pounds sterling. [57]
- October 7
- New York stocks drop for a fifth straight day, resulting in the Dow Jones Industrial Average's biggest five-day point loss ever, more than 1400 points, or nearly 13 percent. [35]
- Russia agrees to provide Iceland with a 4 billion euro loan. [310]
- The meteoroid 2008 TC3 impacts Earth, becoming the first such object to be discovered prior to impact. [310]
- October 8
- The British Treasury announces a bail-out plan for British banks, investing up to 50 billion pounds (US$87 billion) of public money to increase bank capital in exchange for preference shares, making available at least 200 billion pounds in Treasury bills in exchange for less liquid assets of banks, and guaranteeing up to 250 billion pounds of new bank-obtained funding. [257.65] [265.75]
- Central banks around the world cut interest rates in unison for the first time ever. The coordinated rate cuts are made by financial policymakers in response to the global credit crisis. Central banks of the USA, China, Europe, Great Britain, Canada, Sweden, and Switzerland all cut their main lending rate by half a percentage point. [35] [265.15]
- The Tokyo stock market drops 9.4 percent; the Hong Kong stock market drops 8.2 percent. [265.9]
- October 9
- Following a major banking and financial crisis in Iceland, the Icelandic Financial Supervisory Authority takes control of the three largest banks in the country: Kaupthing Bank, Landsbanki, and Glitnir. [310]
- General Motors Corp share price drops to US$4.65, its lowest level since 1950. Market capitalization drops to US$2.6 billion, lower than its value of about $4 billion in March 1929. [35]
- Mexican retailer Comercial Mexicana files for creditor protection after losing US$4 billion on derivatives contracts. [257.48]
- Canada's TSX composite index closes down 456 points at 9,600, a 4.5 percent decline. In New York, the Dow Jones loses 679 points or 7.3 percent, while the Nasdaq sheds 95 points or 5.5 percent. [105]
- October 10
- The Canadian government announces it will buy CDN$25 billion in mortgage-backed securities to support the country's financial institutions. [105]
- October 11
- Russia test-fires an intercontinental ballistic missile a distance of 11,500km, a new record for a missile fired from a submarine. [57]
- October 12
- The Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft launches from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. On board is US space tourist Richard Garriott, who paid about USS%15 million for the 10-day trip to the International Space Station. Richard's father, Owen Garriott, spent 60 days on a US space station in 1973. [57]
- October 13
- Britain, Germany, France and other European countries pledge more than 1 trillion euros (US$1.36 trillion) for bank guarantees and equity stakes. [35] [257.83]
- Iceland shut downs its stock market and abandons attempts to defend its currency, and requests financing from the International Monetary Fund. [35]
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average rebounds 936.42 points, nearly doubling the largest daily point gain in history, bringing the index back above 9,000 points. Stocks worldwide add more than US$1.7 trillion in value, based on a record 9.3 percent gain in the MSCI world equity index. [35] [227] [257.86]
- Death of Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, gambler and ganster, at age 79 in Miami, Florida, USA. [266.99]
- October 14
- U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announces plans to take equity stakes totaling up to $250 billion in financial institutions. [35] [257.83]
- Canada's TSX stock market index closes up 890.50 points, or 9.82 percent, ending the day at 9955.66, a record one-day gain. At one point during the day, the TSX was up 1600 points. [105]
- Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announces the government would guarantee all deposits in Australian banks and other savings institutions for three years. Rudd also announces a spending plan of A$10.4 billion (US$7 billion). [257.51]
- Federal elections in Canada: Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives secure a stronger minority government, with 143 seats, up from 127. The Liberal party takes 76 seats, down from 95. Bloc Québécois wins 50 seats, the NDP wins 37 seats, and two independents hold on to their seats. [105] [257.47]
- October 15
- The US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and the Swiss National Bank announce they will allow unlimited loans in US dollars. [257.83]
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average index falls 733 points (7.87 percent) to 8,577 points, its biggest percentage fall since October 1987. The United Kingdon's FTSE 100 falls 7.16 percent, Germany's Dax drops 6.49 percent, and France's Cac 40 loses 6.82 percent. [57] [227] [257.12]
- Thai and Cambodian troops fight an hour-long battle with small arms and rockets on a disputed stretch of border. [35]
- In the Barbados, 13 Caribbean countries sign approval of a new Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union. [257.50]
- October 16
- American second largest bank Citigroup posts its fourth straight quarterly loss of $13 billion due to write-downs and credit losses. The bank has recorded US$71 billion in losses over five quarters. [35]
- Crude oil drops as low as US$69.15 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, less than half its July record high. [105]
- October 17
- The Perth Mint in Australia stops accepting orders for bullion coins, to catch up on production to fulfill existing orders due to extremely high demand. [463.92]
- The United Nations General Assembly elects Turkey, Austria, Japan, Uganda, and Mexico to two-year terms on the Security Council. [310]
- October 19
- The South Korean Government announces US$130 billion rescue of economy for guarantees of foreign-currency debts, and for banks in need of dollars. [276.52]
- October 21
- The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is officially inaugurated. It is a collaboration of over 10,000 scientists and engineers from over 100 countries as well as hundreds of universities and laboratories. [310]
- October 22
- India launches its first unmanned moon mission; the rocket is called Chandrayaan-1, and is being sent on a two-year mission to orbit the Moon. The rocket carries payloads from India, the USA, Germany, Britain, Sweden, and Bulgaria. [35] [276.96] [310] [524.46]
- Wachovia Corp reports a third-quarter loss of US$23.9 billion, a record quarterly deficit for a banking company in the global credit crisis. [35]
- Hungary's central bank raises its interest rate from 8.5 percent to 11.5. [276.33]
- October 23
- French president Nicolas Sarkozy announces a strategic investment fund of borrowed money to acquire stakes in French industries to prevent foreign take-overs. [266.62]
- October 24
- The International Monetary Fund reaches an agreement with Iceland for a US$2.1-billion loan package to help the country. [105]
- October 26
- The International Monetary Fund reaches an agreement with Ukraine for a US$16.5-billion loan package to help the country. [105]
- American commandos make a raid on a farm in Syria, across from Iraq. The Syrian government claims eight civilians killed. [266.56]
- October 27
- The Toronto stock market's S&P/TSX composite index suffers its fourth-largest one-day loss ever, falling 756.75 points or 8.14 per cent to close at 8,537.34, the lowest close in more than four years. Japan's Nikkei index falls 6.4 percent to a 26-year low, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index drops 12.7 percent. [105] [266.86]
- October 28
- The International Monetary Fund reaches an agreement with Hungary for a US$25.1-billion loan package to help the country. [266.87]
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average rises 889.35 points, or 10.88 percent, to 9,065.12, its second-biggest point gain. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gains 91.59 points, or 10.79 percent, to 940.51, also its second-biggest point gain. The Nasdaq Composite Index rises 143.57 points, or 9.53 percent, to 1,649.47. [35]
- Volkswagen briefly becomes the world's biggest company by market value, with short sellers paying up to 1,005 euros a share. At that price Volkswagen's voting stock was worth 296 billion euros (US$370 billion). [35] [266.85]
- Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom concedes electoral victory to opposition leader Mohamed "Anni" Nasheed (54 percent of vote). Gayoom was president for 30 years. [57] [266.52]
- October 29
- An earthquake of 6.4 magnitude hits Baluchistan province in south-western Pakistan, killing at least 160 people. Four aftershocks register at up to 6.2. [57] [266.52]
- In New York City, Siegel Auction Galleries sells at auction a US 1868 3-cent George Washington stamp with B grill, one of four known, used, for US$1.035 million. [302.24] [793.1] [798.3]
- Hungary's currency and stock markets rise on the news that it will receive an international economic bailout package worth US$25 billion from the IMF, European Union, and World Bank. [310]
- Delta Air Lines merges with Northwest Airlines, forming the world's largest commercial carrier. [310]
- British foreign secretary changes Britain's position on Tibet, saying "Tibet is part of China. Full Stop." The previous position was that China held "suzerainty" over Tibet. [277.54]
- The US Federal Reserve cuts interest rate to 1 percent. [266.16,85]
- The American Federal Reserve announces it will loan up to US$30 billion to Brazil, Singapore, South Korea, and Mexico. [277.51]
- October 30
- The U.S. economy shrank by 0.3 percent in the third quarter (July-September), the most in seven years, with consumer spending during the quarter at the lowest in 28 years. [35]
- Japan, the world's second biggest economy, unveils a 5 trillion yen (US$51 billion) package of spending measures to support its economy. [35] [266.86]
- Eleven bomb blasts rip through the main city of India's Assam state and three other towns, killing 77 people and wounding 320. [35]
- October 31
- Death of Pulitzer Prize-winning author (The Good War) Louis "Studs" Terkel in Chicago, Illinois, USA, at age 96. [57] [310]
- October (month)
- US consumer prices drop by one percent, the biggest monthly drop since at least 1947. [308.84]
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