The news that Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch sold itself to Bank of America devastated the U.S. stock market futures about a half an hour before the start of trading. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures moved lower by roughly 350 points. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures were also down markedly. Shares of Lehman Brothers, AIG and Washington Mutual, all of which were hammered in volatile trading last week continued to slump in premarket trade Monday as investors rushed to unload their stakes in the ailing companies amid the percolating crisis on Wall Street.
