Berlin- End of 2006 - The long-running US real estate boom comes to an end as house prices began to fall.

Beginning of 2007 - Pressure mounts on the risky end of the US housing finance market amid signs low-income earners facing problems meeting their loan commitments.

July 19 - US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke warns subprime mortgage crisis could hit US economic growth.

August 1 - German state-owned development Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau (KfW) spearheads 8.1-billion-euro rescue operation for business bank IKB.

August 3 - Three German investment funds closely temporarily and US mortgage lender American Home Mortgage slashes workforce by 90 per cent.

August 9 - Turmoil engulfs global share markets as speculation mounts about big banking industry losses.

August 10 - Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank join other central banks in pumping liquidity into credit markets.

August 16 - Biggest US mortgage lender Countrywide Financial takes out emergency loan of 11 billion dollars from a group of banks.

August 17 - Federal Reserve cuts discount rate by 50 basis points to 5.75 per cent.

August 21 - German investor confidence index plunges to lowest level since December 2006.

August 23 - US housing figures slump.

September 6 - European Central Bank drops planned rate hike.

September 7 - New York Stock Exchange Dow Jones index plunges 180 points after US non-farm payrolls fell by 4,000 in August. Analysts had forecast a 110,000-rise.

September 13 - Long queues form at British mortgage lender Northern Rock's branches as customers attempt to withdraw savings after the Bank of England threw the group a financial lifeline.

September 18 - Federal Reserve cuts rates by half a point to 4.75 per cent.

October 5 - US bank Merrill Lynch announces a 5.5-billion-dollar loss.

October 31 - Federal Reserve cuts rates by 25 basis points to 4.5 per cent.

November 1 - Federal Reserve injects fresh liquidity into the money market.

November 5 - US's biggest bank Citigroup announces subprime losses of up to 11 billion dollars. Citigroup chief Charles Prince resigns.

December 6 - US President George W Bush announces emergency package for banks and debt-laden home owners. Bank of England announces surprise
25-basis-points rate cut.

December 11 - Federal Reserve cuts interest rates by 25-basis points to 4.25 per cent.

December 13 - World central banks launch coordinated action to inject about 100 billion dollars into credit markets.

December 19 - US investment bank Morgan Stanley writes off 9.4 billion dollars.

January 7 - Bush warns subprime crisis could result in slowing growth in 2008.

January 15 - Citigroup posts a fourth-quarter loss of 9.8 billion dollars and writedowns totalling 18 billion dollars.

January 24 - Gold hits all-time high of nearly 920 dollars an once.

January 25 - Federal Reserve cuts rates by 50 basis points to 3.5 per cent.

January 30 - Fed cuts rates by 50 basis points to 3 per cent.

February 6 - Wall Street reports worst trading losses in about a year as global share markets slump.

February 13 - Japan's financial watchdog says nation's banks ran up losses totalling 5.6 billion dollars by the end of 2007.

February 14 - Europe's biggest bank Swiss-based UBS announces 4 billion-dollars-loss in 2007.

March 11 - Oil prices climb to all-time high of 109.49 dollars a barrel on weak dollar.

March 16 - Federal Reserve backs JPMorgan Chase's 2 dollars-a- share bid to buy Wall Street bank Bear Stearns.

March 17 - Dollar tumbles to record low against the euro of 1.5905 dollars.

March 18 - Wall Street's Sachs and Lehman Brothers say first quarter profits halved by the credit crunch. Stocks, however, gain after the results were not as bad as forecast.

March 31 - European Central Bank injects fresh capital into debt markets.

April 1 - UBS writes down a further 19 billion dollars. Germany's biggest bank Deutsche Bank AG expects first-quarter writedowns of around 3.9 billion dollars.

April 2 - Fed chief Ben Bernanke warns US economy may contract during first half 2008.

April 4 - US unemployment rises to its highest level since September 2005.(dpa)