Working Group on Financial Markets

The Working Group on Financial Markets is also known as The President's Working Group on Financial Markets and colloquially as the Plunge Protection Team (PPT).

This is a group the was created by executive order by United States President Ronald Reagan on the 18 March 1988, five months after the Black Monday meltdown of the financial markets on 19 October 1987.

The working group consists of:

• The Secretary of the Treasury
• The Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
• The Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission
• The Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission

or their designees.

On the 6th October 2008, the working group stated that it was taking multiple actions available to it in order to attempt to stabilize the financial system. The purchase of stock shares was not part of the statement, however, the government may end up owning shares in the firms to which it has provided loans, as they will receive warrants as collateral for these loans.