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British Airways shareholders rushed for the emergency exits today, fretting that the airline could need state aid to prevent it coming crashing down.
Britain's former favourite carrier topped the Footsie fallers as its shares plummeted to a three-month low of 125.5p, down 10.9, on renewed worries over its pensions liabilities.
BA has clashed with trustees over their investment strategy, which it believes has exacerbated the ballooning deficit.
The pensions black hole, which will prevent it from tapping investors for cash, is expected to have risen to more than £3 billion — far above its market capitalisation of £1.6 billion.
Sir Richard Branson stuck the knife in at the weekend, arguing that the Government should not step in to rescue beleaguered BA. But the company today denied it was in talks over a bailout.
The carrier, which last week asked its staff to work for a month for free, is also thought to be looking to offload its OpenSkies arm, only a year after launching it.
Shares in London started the week on the back foot as investors pocketed profits, betting that the best of the recent run is now over.
The malaise set in across global markets after the World Bank predicted that the world economy will shrink by 2.9% this year.
The FTSE 100 index dived 85.13 points to 4260.8 while in New York, the Dow lost 108.75 points to 8430.98.
But Anglo American's shares were gleaming, although it seems Xstrata will need to step up its courtship to convince Anglo's investors of the benefits of a merger.
Top shareholders said the Swiss miner will need to offer a significant premium to win their support for the deal, which would create a mining behemoth with a market capitalisation of £41 billion.
One top-20 Anglo investor said that Xstrata would need to stump up a 30% premium to Anglo's current share price.
The world's biggest platinum miner has spurned Xstrata's advances in the past, and the board appears equally unenthusiastic this time.
But Xstrata chief executive Mick Davis has also timed his move to perfection — with Cynthia Carroll, the Anglo boss, out of favour with investors over a number of expensive acquisitions.
Analysts expect the deal could therefore receive a warmer reception with investors than before, especially if investors heed the example of Rio Tinto.
Rio rejected BHP Billiton's offer last year and shareholders have since paid for the snub with a mega cash call and the failed attempt at a spectacularly unpopular tie-up with Chinalco.
Investec believes a merger would give an 8% boost to earnings for Anglo shareholders this year and next.
Analysts spent the day salivating over the potential cost savings the deal could bring for the new mining titan, but there are likely to be major hurdles to overcome.
Anglo's shares soared 89½ to 1712p but Xstrata and Lonmin lost out. Talk in the City is that Xstrata will be forced to ditch its near-25% stake in Lonmin if the deal goes ahead.
This pushed the platinum miner's shares 86p lower at 1164p while Xstrata gave up 23.5p to 657.5p. Traders said that some investors were switching out of Xstrata to move into Anglo.
Royal Dutch Shell joined it on the losers' list amid renewed concerns for its Nigerian operations.
The oil titan said yesterday that its offshore oil platforms in the eastern part of the Niger Delta had been attacked three times by militants in only 24 hours.
Its A shares dropped 56p to 1535p and the B shares lost 49p to 1559p.
The falling cost of crude sent the rest of the sector lower.
BP was down 19p at 478p and BG Group was off 53p at 1013p.
