SocGen, the world’s leading equity derivative trading house – it claims to have invented the instruments – quickly unwound the positions he had amassed, estimated at €40bn-€50bn. SocGen’s fire sale contributed to the heavy stock market falls on Monday that provoked the US Federal Reserve’s dramatic interest rate cut the following day. The Fed was informed of the SocGen problem on Wednesday by the Banque de France.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bd9f55d6-ca4b-11dc-a960-000077b07658.html
Hmmm ... yawn .... more hmmm in am! ;-)