Berlin - End of 2006 - The long-running US real estate boom comes to an end as house prices began to fall. Beginning of 2007 - Pressure mounts on the risky end of the US housing finance market amid signs low-income earners facing problems meeting their loan commitments.
July 19 - US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke warns subprime mortgage crisis could hit US economic growth.
August 1 - German state-owned development Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau (KfW) spearheads 8.1-billion-euro rescue operation for business bank IKB.
August 3 - Three German investment funds closely temporarily and US mortgage lender American Home Mortgage slashes workforce by 90 per cent.
August 9 - Turmoil engulfs global share markets as speculation mounts about big banking industry losses.
August 10 - Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank join other central banks in pumping liquidity into credit markets.
August 16 - Biggest US mortgage lender Countrywide Financial takes out emergency loan of 11 billion dollars from a group of banks.
August 17 - Federal Reserve cuts discount rate by 50 basis points to 5.75 per cent.
August 21 - German investor confidence index plunges to lowest level since December 2006.
August 23 - US housing figures slump.
September 6 - European Central Bank drops planned rate hike.
September 7 - New York Stock Exchange Dow Jones index plunges 180 points after US non-farm payrolls fell by 4,000 in August. Analysts had forecast a 110,000-rise.
September 13 - Long queues form at British mortgage lender Northern Rock's branches as customers attempt to withdraw savings after the Bank of England threw the group a financial lifeline.
September 18 - Federal Reserve cuts rates by half a point to 4.75 per cent.
October 5 - US bank Merrill Lynch announces a 5.5-billion-dollar loss.
October 31- Federal Reserve cuts rates by 25 basis points to 4.5 per cent.
November 1 - Federal Reserve injects fresh liquidity into the money market.
November 5 - US's biggest bank Citigroup announces subprime losses of up to 11 billion dollars. Citigroup chief Charles Prince resigns.
December 6 - US President George W Bush announces emergency package for banks and debt-laden home owners. Bank of England announces surprise 25-basis-points rate cut.
December 11 - Federal Reserve cuts interest rates by 25-basis points to 4.25 per cent.
December 13 - World central banks launch coordinated action to inject about 100 billion dollars into credit markets.
December 19 - US investment bank Morgan Stanley writes off 9.4 billion dollars.
January 7 - Bush warns subprime crisis could result in slowing growth in 2008.
January 15 -Citigroup posts a fourth-quarter loss of 9.8 billion dollars and writedowns totalling 18 billion dollars.
January 24 - Gold hits all-time high of nearly 920 dollars an once.
January 25 - Federal Reserve cuts rates by 50 basis points to 3.5 per cent.
January 30 - Fed cuts rates by 50 basis points to 3 per cent.
February 6 - Wall Street reports worst trading losses in about a year as global share markets slump.
February 13 - Japan's financial watchdog says nation's banks ran up losses totalling 5.6 billion dollars by the end of 2007.
February 14 - Europe's biggest bank Swiss-based UBS announces 4 billion-dollars-loss in 2007.
March 11 - Oil prices climb to all-time high of 109.49 dollars a barrel on weak dollar.
March 16- Federal Reserve backs JPMorgan Chase's 2 dollars-a- share bid to buy Wall Street bank Bear Stearns.
March 17 - Dollar tumbles to record low against the euro of 1.5905 dollars.
March 18 - Wall Street's Sachs and Lehman Brothers say first quarter profits halved by the credit crunch. Stocks, however, gain after the results were not as bad as forecast.
March 31 - European Central Bank injects fresh capital into debt markets.
April 1 - UBS writes down a further 19 billion dollars. Germany's biggest bank Deutsche Bank AG expects first-quarter writedowns of around 3.9 billion dollars.
April 2 - Fed chief Ben Bernanke warns US economy may contract during first half 2008.
April 4 - US unemployment rises to its highest level since September 2005.
