James Caldwell hoped he was making a good investment when he bought $7,000 of Wachovia stock for his retirement fund last week at $11 a share.

For a stock that traded at nearly $60 two years ago, it seemed like a bargain. Yet, days later, the shares fell below $2 as Wachovia became the latest bank pushed to the brink of collapse by the financial crisis. "I've been wiped out," says Mr Caldwell, standing outside Wachovia's headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he works in the bank's securities business.