Forex

Nothing like an old-fashioned bank run to give Wall Street the willies. Scores of panicked customers lined up outside what is now IndyMac Federal Bank after its assets were seized by federal regulators on July 11. The Pasadena (Calif.) lender crumbled under the weight of souring mortgages and a hard-hit local housing market, making it the biggest savings-and-loan and the second-largest financial institution to fail in U.S. history. The news, along with the Fannie (FNM)/Freddie (FRE) debacle, sent investors fleeing. The Dow dropped through the 11,000 mark on July 15 before rallying the next day, partly thanks to oil prices taking a dive. Behemoths such as Citigroup (C), Merrill Lynch (MER), and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) were expected to report nasty numbers on July 17 and 18, though The Wall Street Journal on July 16 said Merrill had sold its Bloomberg stake for $4.5 billion to $5 billion.