A JP Morgan Chase flag flies near the headquarters for Bear Stearns in New York, March 14, 2008. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

An emergency rescue of Bear Stearns Co Inc stunned the Wall Street bank's staff and pummeled financial stocks on Monday amid fears that few banks are safe from deepening financial market turmoil.
Bear Stearns staff turning up for work found the value of their stock options in tatters and the future of their jobs up in the air.
But the grim mood spread further than Wall Street's fifth biggest bank as shares in European banks including UBS in Switzerland, HBOS in Britain and SocGen in France fell over 10 percent as concern swept markets that the value of risky assets needs to be marked down even further.