After record losses on the FTSE and Wall Street, how much worse can it get?

• £95 billion wiped off value of the FTSE 100
  
• Dow Jones closes below 10,000 for the first time since 2004
  
• 550 people 'will lose their jobs every day for 18 months'
  
• Confusion after Germany guarantees all savings
• Economic 'war cabinet' meets to discuss crisis

A bid by Alistair Darling to restore confidence in the banking system failed spectacularly yesterday.

As the Chancellor defended the Government's strategy to beat the financial crisis, the FTSE 100 recorded the biggest one-day fall in history amid warnings of worse to come.

The share price of every single company on the blue chip index plunged, with the worst-hit victims losing a quarter of their value in a single day.

Meltdown: A Wall Street trader looks on nervously as the Dow Jones plunges by more than 500 points to its lowest level for four years

By the end of trading, nearly £95billion had been wiped off the value of the FTSE 100, a devastating blow for investors

Analysts said some £25billion went during the Chancellor's 13 minute, 38 second speech in the Commons.

The picture was equally bleak around the world, with markets ignoring similar reassurance from EU leaders and George Bush.

The U.S. Dow Jones rallied after a record 800-point fall but still closed below 10,000 for the first time since 2004.

Mr Darling insisted that he would not be stampeded into rushed announcements about rescue plans for the economy.

 

'All options must remain open': Alistair Darling tells MPs the Government will do whatever is necessary to help Britain through the financial crisis

He repeated that he would do 'whatever is necessary' to calm the storm and defended the Government's strategy of dealing with individual cases rather than arranging a wide-ranging bail-out like the Americans.

But on a day which saw the first meeting of the Prime Minister's economic 'war cabinet', the Government came under growing attack for failing to stop the rot.

Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said: 'For all the risks to taxpayers involved, there is one thing worse than Government action. And that is inaction in the face of this crisis.'

The British Chambers of Commerce warned that the UK is already in a full-blown recession. It predicted about 550 people every day will lose their jobs over the next 18 months.

International panic was fuelled by growing disunity among EU