Washington - As Wall Street tottered on the brink of collapse and the US government unveiled one the largest market interventions in its history, stakeholders from every side weighed in with incredibly stark views of the country's economic future.

The assessments did not just focus on the country's short-term economic health. Many believe this week's events could drastically change the way the United States does business.

"Capitalism as we knew it - free-market capitalism - seems to be dead," declared Rob Cox, editor of financial website breakingviews. com.

New York - Stocks finished their week-long roller coaster ride on the US financial crisis just about where they started, with the three major US indices Friday making a second day of huge rebounds.

Stock indices careened up and down through the week by as much as 4 per cent a day over a major bankruptcy and bank merger and as the US government bailed out the insurance giant American International Group Inc.

The interconnected world's markets rode along for the wild ride.

Amman - Arab stock markets tumbled this week in response to the collapse of the US Lehman Brothers bank, and financial analysts said Friday they did not exclude further repercussions on regional markets.

"The direction of markets is unclear," Nizar Taher, chief of brokerage at the Jordan Ahli Bank told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

"Arab markets reacted violently to latest developments in the United States, an indication that there are investors who work in the two regions," he said.

Sydney  - Australia's securities regulator Friday joined its counterparts in the United States and Britain in curbing the short-selling of shares that has contributed to the tumult on stock markets.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) ruled that from Monday a temporary ban on what's called naked short-selling would take effect.

In naked short-selling, traders sell shares they don't actually own in the hope of buying them later at a cheaper price. ASIC said it was concerned some individuals were spreading false and misleading information about listed companies to provoke fire sales of securities at low prices.

Hanoi  - The Vietnamese stock market rebounded sharply Friday following Thursday's rebound in the US stock market.

The volatile VN-Index ended up 4.7 per cent, to close at 439.06.

Market volume totaled 25.5 million shares, valued at 850 billion dong (51 million dollars), up from 457 billion dong (27 million dollars) on Thursday.

Phan Hong Quan, director of Eurocapital Securities company, credited the rebound of the US and regional stock markets.

The Vietnamese market had fallen in nine of the last ten sessions on US worries, losing 21 per cent of its value, and investors felt it could not fall much further.

Jakarta - Indonesia's stock market rose by more than 5 per cent Friday, sparked by regional rebounds following overnight gains on Wall Street and signs that US authorities might take new measures