Wall St rescue package rejected

United States Congress has rejected the US$700 billion (A$860 billion) Wall Street rescue package proposed by US President George Bush. The package was designed to help the floundering finance industry avoid collapse.

Despite careful negotiations between the Democrats and the Republicans, the bill failed. Figures show about twice as many Democrats voted in favour of the bailout package than Republicans. Many Republicans did not agree that taxpayers should fund Wall Street.
 
As a result of the rejection, the Dow Jones recorded the worst single day decline ever wiping 770.59 points from the board, a bigger dip than the decline following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.