Currency trader Jim Rogers has blasted the US government’s planned bail-out of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as an 'unmitigated disaster'.

His former trading partner, hedge fund guru George Soros, warned that the banks would not be the last victims in the “most serious financial crisis of our lifetime”.

News of the bail-out sent the shares of the two banks up as much as 20% in early trading, but the gains were quickly eroded as investors feared the possibility of another collapse in the regional banking sector.

Daily Telegraph