Twitter market debut (TWTR on NYSE): Offer = $26 per share. Closed at $44.90 per share, for total market value of $23B.

JPMorgan Chase reaches agreement with Federal Housing Finance Authority (overseer of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) to pay penalty of $5.1B to resolve charges of misleading investors on risky loans and mortgage securities it sold before 2007 housing market collapse.

This is the day the US govt was to default on its debt if the Republican Congress and the Obama administration failed to reach a budget deal and extend the debt ceiling. At the very last mininute last night, Speaker Boehner and some top House GOP went along with a bipartisan deal (Senate vote: 81-18 in favor. House vote: 285-144 in favor, with 87 Republicans in favor and 144 against; all Democrats in favor). Thus, the unthinkable international embarassment of a US default was avoided. But funding is only until Jan 15, 2014 and borrowing authority only extended until Feb 7, 2014 :(

With no budget deal between President Obama and the Republican Congress, sequestration begins: about $1.2Tr in automatic spending cuts [Although there were dire predictions of an economic catastrophe, the financial markets and the economy were mostly resilient]

President Obama and Congress strike a deal to avoid "Fiscal Cliff" aka sequestration: (a) End payroll tax holiday, which was designed to stimulate the weak economy in 2010 (b) Top marginal tax rate up from 35% to Clinton's rate of 39.6% [Note: Budget sequestration was postponed to March 2013]

Facebook market debuts (FB on Nasdaq). Offer = $38. Closed at $38.23. Market value over $100B.

S&P downgrades U.S. Treasury bond from AAA to AA+ ; Stock market plunges 7% next day [Stock quickly recovered and later traded at historical highs into 2013 and beyond]

Budget Control Act 2011: Only $1Tr in cuts; no revenue increses; auto $1.2Tr in cuts if no budget agreement by Jan 2013 (last aspect called sequestration)

President George W. Bush signs Wall Street Bailout bill into law ($700B)

Financial crisis begins: Market collapses, S&P500 and Nasdaq lose 9%

Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy and later goes out of business.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac file for bankruptcy; siezed by government

Alan Greenspan warns that banks were lending aggressively at the peak of a cycle