Lewis Carroll's White Queen "believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast". Traders could use that skill. Here are six things we have been asked to believe since markets closed on Tuesday.

First, the US Federal Reserve is lending $85bn to American International Group to stop it from going bust. AIG is an insurer, not covered by the Fed. The action is without precedent. Does it damage the decisive move against moral hazard when Lehman was allowed to fail? Arguably not. AIG was of greater systemic importance. And yesterday's market response suggests that it in no way damped aversion to risk.