March 16: Federal Reserve offers $29 billion in guarantees to persuade J.P. Morgan Chase to buy Bear Stearns, which was crippled by billions of dollars' worth of toxic mortgage-backed debt.
July 11: IndyMac, a large mortgage bank, is seized by regulators after a run on the bank left it short of reserves. The bank later filed for bankruptcy protection.
Sept. 6: The Federal Reserve takes control of giant mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, pledging to provide as much as $100 billion for each.
Sept. 14: Securities firm Lehman Brothers says that it will file for bankruptcy, the largest in U.S. history.
Sept. 15: Merrill Lynch, fearing the same fate as Lehman, sells itself to Bank of America for $50 billion.
Sept. 16: Federal Reserve agrees to lend up to $85 billion to American International Group, which would give the U.S. government an 80 percent stake in the insurer.
