Banking stocks fell across Europe on Monday after the dramatic overnight news of Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy and Bank of America's $50bn takeover of Merrill Lynch.

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"Black Monday? Try Blacker Than a Dark Cellar at Midnight Monday," said Mark Priest, senior trader at ETX Capital.

"Bear Stearns has gone, Lehman's gone, Merrill's gone - it's carnage. People are worried about what will emerge when Lehman Brothers unravels itself, and the ripple effects that that could cause. It looks like people have moved their money back into commodities - gold and silver are up, but otherwise there are few safe havens."