And yesterday, one of the last two giant US investment banks left standing, Morgan Stanley, was see-sawing between Wachovia and a government-backed Chinese investment fund as its share price was scalped. The chaos on Wall Street had very real repercussions in Britain. HBOS shares plunged by as much as 52% during the week on fears that it would go the way of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the US lenders nationalised on September 8. Bradford & Bingley, which specialises in the so-called buy-to-let property lending market, had its credit rating slashed to one notch above junk and its share price dropped to a record low of 29 pence — a far cry from the £4.50 it was priced at in the past northern summer. As one senior London banker told The Times : "The world is on the brink. The market is puking all over us." London's financial sector and the British economy certainly feel on the brink.