The Federal Reserve and a consortium of European central banks Wednesday announced a half percentage point reduction in a key interest rate in an effort to stave off an economic slump, reports The Washington Post.

The announcement—dramatic, given that central banks closely guard interest rates as a key component of national policy—came on what promised to be a turbulent day on markets as investors evaluated a quickly-changing landscape. Along with the interest rate cut investors were also evaluating news of a major government bailout of U.K. banks.

European exchanges were nevertheless lower by about 4 , while Asian indexes suffered another major selloff overnight. U.S. indexes fell more than 2% when trading opened, quickly rebounded to a gain of about

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