Fears of another calamitous market meltdown like that that followed the collapse of Lehman Bros in September led to the late Sunday afternoon (US time) rescue of Citigroup. A 60 per cent decline in the share price of the group the week before led to fears that a run on the bank was imminent and forced a joint rescue by the US Federal Reserve, US Treasury and the Federal Deposit Insurance Commission. The value of the rescue package was put at US$326 billion.This action was followed the next day by the Federal Reserve Board's announcement of the establishment of the US$800 billion, Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility. TALF follows on from, but is separate to, the US$700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program, which was established only weeks before as the primary vehicle for supporting the troubled US banking system.TALF will provide US$200 billion to help market participants by supporting the issuance of asset-backed securities collateralised by student loans, auto loans, credit card loans, and loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration. US$600 billion will also be made available to buy mortgage-backed securities and direct debt from the big mortgage lenders. Both moves are aimed at reducing US mortgage rates and getting the US consumer spending again.As it was, these moves, along with announcements of UK and European economic stimulus packages valued at £20 billion and €200 billion respectively, served to buoy global equity markets that had been severely depressed at the end of the previous week. The Australian share market enjoyed the biggest rise ever over the week, with the S&P/ASX 2 00 up by 9.5 per cent; the Dow Jones up by 9.7 per cent and the FTSE up by a massive 13.4 per cent.