Markets gone wild: 10 craziest days on Wall Street in 2008

As we ring in the new year, it feels nice to put 2008 behind us.

In what all traders would agree was the craziest market they'd ever seen, we were taken on a roller-coaster ride fueled by the subprime mortgage fiasco, a recession, bailouts, a credit crisis, scandal and a historic election.

Here are 10 of the wildest days and biggest point moves on the Dow during the last 12 months:

#10 Saving our Fannie (and Freddie): After years of financial shenanigans and controversy, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were placed into conservatorship in a federal takeover of the government sponsored enterprises. (July 14)

# 9 The day after (Bear Stearns): Just one day after the collapse of Bear Stearns, the market rallied on a 75-basis-point Fed rate cut and better-than-expected earnings reports from Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers. (March 18)

#8 We've got a bad feeling about this: Facing the possibility of a 500-point drop in the Dow, the Fed sprang into action early to shore up the markets. (Jan. 22)

#7 I've always wanted to be loved ... and be a banker: The federal government announced it would take preferred equity stakes worth up to $250 billion in several U.S. banks to keep money flowing through the financial system. (Oct. 14)

#6 Consumer confidence hits all-time low ... let's buy stocks!: Consumer confidence reaches the lowest levels on record since the survey began 41 years ago and the market rallies to post its second-largest gain of the year. Huh?!? (Oct. 28)

#5 It's official: U.S. economy enters recession ... in 2007: This headline from the NBER combined with other weak economic data and more troubles in financials to drag down the Dow by nearly 700 points. (Dec. 1)