Which 2008 crisis began with severe stress in U.S. mortgage finance and spread through global markets?

The global financial crisis was the 2008 crisis that began with severe stress in U.S. mortgage finance and spread through global markets.

In the years before the crisis, U.S. housing prices and mortgage lending expanded rapidly. Many mortgages were packaged into securities, and financial institutions used substantial leverage. When house prices declined and borrowers defaulted, the value of mortgage-linked assets became uncertain.

The failure of Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008, intensified the panic. Credit markets seized up, stock markets fell worldwide, and governments intervened with emergency lending, guarantees, and bank rescues. The crisis produced the deepest global recession since the Great Depression.

The crisis is sometimes called the subprime mortgage crisis, especially when discussing its U.S. origins. “Global financial crisis” better describes the worldwide banking, credit, employment, and stock-market consequences.