Great Recession/Timelines

Prelude (trends: January 2000 to June 2007)

Capital flows:

Flows of capital into the advanced countries, rising from about 8 per cent of world GDP in 2002 to about 16 per cent in 2007

US Monetary policy

Progressive discount rate reductions by the Federal Reserve reducing the federal funds rate from 6 per cent in 2000 to 1 per cent in 2003, followed by increases to 5.25 per cent in 2006)[1].

US housing boom and bust

The average house price rises by 80% [2] between 2001 and 2006 and then falls by 8% from its 2006 peak to mid-2007 .

Financial crisis (June 2007 to November 2008)

June 2007

US Credit rating agencies downgrade over 100 bonds backed by subprime mortgages.

Two of the Bear Stearns'' investment bank's hedge funds are threatened by losses from mortgage defaults [3].

August 2007

The French BNP Paribas bank announces that it is unable to value bonds backed by US house mortgages[4]