This month in history:

Oct. 1, 1908 Henry Ford's Model T went on sale for the first time.

Oct. 7, 1765 The Stamp Act Congress convened in New York City to protest the British Stamp Act, which imposed the first direct tax on Americans.

Oct. 15, 1924 Lee Iacocca was born. Iacocca became an automobile executive at Ford and later helped save Chrysler from bankruptcy, making himself one of the first glamour capitalists.

Oct. 19, 1987 "Black Monday" occurred on Wall Street as stocks plunged a record 508 points or 22.6 percent, the largest one-day drop in stock market history.

Oct. 29, 1929 The stock market crashed as over 16 million shares were dumped amid tumbling prices. The Great Depression followed and spread worldwide.

The subprime bloodbath continues as brokerage firm Merrill Lynch writes down nearly $8 billion in losses from bad loans, leading to the resignation of CEO Stanley O'Neal. Unlike many people leaving a job after being accused of poor performance, O'Neal took with him about $160 million, including $90 million in stock, $40 million in options and $30 million in pension and other benefits.

The Merrill Lynch announcement is part of a wave of bad news from firms like Citigroup and Bear Stearns about losses in the subprime sector, triggering changes of leadership at several of the world's largest brokerage firms.

The Fed cuts the federal funds rate by another quarter point in a continued bid to try to slow the U.S. economy’s decline.