As this week dawned, many in international markets thought that they might have a respite until Christmas. With stocks having fallen so fast, there were even hopes of what traders call a “bear market rally” before markets had the chance to take stock once more in the new year.

By the end of the week, the S&P 500 of US stocks, the world’s most widely followed index, had crashed to its lowest in 11 years. Its fall since the peak in October last year is now more than 50 per cent and during the week it overtook the total percentage falls it suffered after the dotcom bust of 2000 and the oil crisis of 1973.