At the end of a week that saw global stock markets plunge to dizzying lows and soar to breathtaking heights, shell-shocked traders seem to agree on one thing: they had never seen anything like this before.
Outside the New York Stock Exchange, trader Patrick Casey took a few minutes break in mid-afternoon to reflect on the week that seems to have completely changed the world he works in.
The financial hurricane that tore through Wall Street began Monday when giant Lehman Brothers collapsed after failing to find a buyer, then continued at mid-week when the US government offered an 85-billion-dollar lifeline to insurance giant AIG to stave off a financial market tsunami. Meanwhile Merrill Lynch made an emergency deal to sell itself to Bank of America.
"I have never seen anything like this before," Casey told AFP. "We haven't seen this kind of volatility in the financial sector and the insurance industry.
To calm the markets the US government announced late Thursday a gargantuan bailout plan to help banks and financial firms purge their books of the so-called toxic mortgage assets stemming from the housing market collapse.
By Friday the plan, combined with a temporary ban on short selling of shares in certain companies, seemed to help settle the markets. Nobody knew how long the calm would last.
As the wheel of fortune turned, some traders lost, others gained, and thousands of jobs vanished.
"A lot of people lost their job this week, it's tough," said Casey. "Today, I don't know anymore if I am optimistic and pessimistic. Each day brings something new."
Jarle Sjo, a portfolio manager from London visiting the NYSE, was euphoric following a meeting with his US colleagues.
"Everybody is in very good mood, they're laughing," said Sjo. "There was a lot of winners today. A lot of people lost their jobs, but not these guys."
Harry Moizan, a 38-year-old trader for Global Direct Equities who said he has been working on Wall Street for 16 years, explained the paradox.
"It has been good for us because we make our money down here based on volume, so the more volatility in the market, the more volume it is for brokers like us," Moizan said.
"We are concerned for the economy as a whole," he continued. "The upwards trend in the last two days was basically because of the bailouts and because of the short selling being taken out."
However some like Moizan felt a touch of nervous guilt as they saw friends in the banking and finance industry lose jobs. "I do have friends who work at Lehman Brothers," he said.
Ben Vanderpoi, an NYSE regulator and 18-year Wall Street veteran, compared the week with the market crash of 1978.
"I've really never seen anything worse than this, this is really bad," Vanderpoi said.
"Now the government seems in control and the market has been up two days in a row, so hopefully we're doing good," he said, adding: "We basically need new rules to govern the markets."
