Confronted with a plunge in its stock markets last year, China’s central bank swiftly reached out to the US Federal Reserve, asking it to share its playbook for dealing with Wall Street’s Black Monday crash of 1987.

Stock markets worldwide were gripped by fear today as London’s FTSE 100 Index endured its worst week since the Black Monday crash of 1987.

Wall Street finished a back-and-forth session higher today as investors overcame some of their nervousness about the credit markets and uneven earnings and found solace in the technology sector.