Quando as autoridades começam a reunir com os grandes bancos para medidas de emergência já se sabe que está tudo f*dido.
Donald Trump's Treasury secretary called top US bankers on Sunday amid an ongoing rout on Wall Street and made plans to convene a group of officials known as the "Plunge Protection Team."
US stocks have fallen sharply in recent weeks on concerns over slowing economic growth, with the S&P 500 index on pace for its biggest percentage decline in December since the Great Depression.
"Today I convened individual calls with the CEOs of the nation's six largest banks," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Twitter shortly before financial markets were due to open in Asia.
US equity index futures dropped late on Sunday as electronic trading resumed to kick off a holiday-shortened week. In early trading, the benchmark S&P 500's e-mini futures contract was off by about a quarter of a percent.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan - which was on holiday - lost 0.38 percent and Australian stocks 0.2 percent.
"The CEOs confirmed that they have ample liquidity available for lending," the Treasury said.
Mr Mnuchin "also confirmed that they have not experienced any clearance or margin issues and that the markets continue to function properly," the Treasury said.
Mr Mnuchin's calls to the bankers came amid a partial government shutdown that began on Saturday following an impasse in Congress over Mr Trump's demand for more funds for a wall on the border with Mexico. Financing for about a quarter of federal government programmes expired at midnight on Friday and the shutdown could continue to January 3.
The Treasury said Mr Mnuchin would convene a call on Monday with the president's Working Group on Financial Markets, which includes Washington's main stewards of the US financial system and is sometimes referred to as the "Plunge Protection Team."
The group, which was also convened in 2009 during the latter stage of the financial crisis, includes officials from the Federal Reserve as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission.
