US share prices plunged yesterday to complete the steepest five-day fall in the history of the Dow Jones Industrial Average as the credit crisis deepened.

Investors were unimpressed by the US Federal Reserve's announcement that it would buy up "commercial paper", or short-term debt, used by many companies to cover regular operating expenses.

The Dow fell by some 508 points, to close at 9447 rounding off a cumulative 1,400-point fall over five sessions. Stocks also plunged in Asia, although markets were flat in Europe.

Bermuda's international companies had a day to forget, as hundreds of millions of dollars were wiped off their market values and many saw double-digit percentage declines.

Aspen's share price plummeted 14 per cent in New York trading, as Max Capital suffered a 13 per cent drop and both XL Capital and Validus were off by 12 per cent.

US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said the US economy was being battered by a financial crisis of "historic dimension" and hinted at a potential interest rate cut.

Earlier, Russia negotiated an emergency bailout for Iceland and unveiled an aid package for its own banks, Australia slashed interest rates by one percentage point to six percent, and Britain considered a massive injection of public funds into its beleaguered banking system.

In Luxembourg, EU finance ministers agreed to increase the minimum level of bank deposit insurance across the 27 European Union countries.

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