Dayumm!!!! The Dow ends at 504.48 points lower -- its worst point drop in more than seven years -

Lehman Brothers, a 158-year-old investment bank choked by the credit crisis and falling real estate values, filed for Chapter 11 protection in the biggest bankruptcy filing ever and said it was trying to sell off key business units. Bank of America Corp. said it is snapping up Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. in a $50 billion all-stock transaction.

Stock markets fell and Treasury bond prices soared, though investors had a measured response to some of the biggest economic news in modern U.S. history. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 250 points _ a number that has become almost commonplace over the past year amid the ongoing troubles in the financial sector. oh yea John McCain quickly got hammered by Barack Obama on Monday when he declared that the "fundamentals of our economy are still strong" at an event in Jacksonville, Florida.