
The Federal Reserve, Washington D.C.
Next, several rock-solid money market funds began to falter, dipping below the $1 per share benchmark.
Meanwhile the Fed was scheduled to meet on Tuesday afternoon. Wall Street analysts, who just a week ago expected the Fed to hold rates steady, began to anticipate a rate cut. But the central bank chose not to succumb to panic and unanimously decided to hold rates steady at 2%.
Markets cheered the decision, and the Dow jumped 140 points at the close.
After the bell, British bank Barclays agreed to buy up $2 billion worth of Lehman's brokerage assets and real estate holdings, and Morgan Stanley reported better-than-expected earnings.
But the big news came later that night when the government announced that it would stage a staggering $85 billion bailout of AIG, and take an 80% stake in the company.
NEXT: Wednesday, Sept. 17 - Another free fall