Transactions gone sour in a compact corner of Manhattan that have triggered a historic government rescue plan for the world's biggest economy have poisoned global finance, disrupting markets that trade in everything from sugar to credit.

Many ordinary people from Algiers to New Delhi have watched Wall Street degenerate on TV as if it were a gruesome spectator sport, its casualties limited to American homeowners and investment bankers. But it is also taking a toll on lives less clearly linked to what's gone wrong.

RUSSIA

Nearly 5,000 miles from Wall Street, Dmitry Zhiltsov's recruiting agency is bleeding clients, as investment banks that once sought out Russia's financial wizards succumb to the U.S. meltdown. Flipping on the morning news, he wonders: Who will fall today?

He watches the real estate market, too. If housing prices dive in his hometown of St. Petersburg, and his business dries up and banks limit lending, who will pay his $3,000 monthly mortgage?

"It's like I'm ... waiting for the collapse," he said.

In Zhiltsov's kitchen, his wife, Yulia, cooks porridge while he scans Russian news channels.

"The banks, the brokerages, that's what I'm looking at," since they are his main clients, he said.

He's watching U.S. companies, multinationals — and Russian firms. Moscow's financial markets and booming companies have swooned in recent weeks, partly under the avalanche of bad news in New York.

HONG KONG

Elaine Law's world is swooning, too.

The Hong Kong homemaker has a hard time eating and sleeping lately, and says she even contemplated suicide out of fears about the fate of her family's $70,800 savings in a financial instrument linked to Lehman Brothers.

The investment bank's demise three weeks ago set the wheels in motion for the $700 billion U.S. government bailout approved Friday.

"We were very confident about the market. Who would have thought it would dive and a big bank like Lehman would collapse?" asked Law, 59.

Last year, Law and her retired civil servant husband bought something called an equity-linked note issued by Lehman through Citibank (Hong Kong) Ltd., she said. But two things went wrong.

The note's value was linked to the performance of two major Chinese banks in the Hong Kong stock market. Those banks' stocks have tanked. Then Lehman crashed, and now Law is unsure whether she can recoup what money remains when the note reaches maturity next month.

"We've already started to buy and eat cheap," Law lamented. "How are we going to save up that money again?"

PHILIPPINES

Jobs, too, are falling prey to the U.S. financial crisis, as far away as the Philippines.

Michael Basubas' furniture export company in Cebu depends mainly on U.S. customers, and he has slashed his 200-strong work force to 80 since last year.

"Housing in the U.S. has been affected by the subprime mortgage crisis ... so there are no houses where we can put our furniture," Basubas said.

His furniture wholesaler clients in the U.S. are struggling to sell their goods, and would rather hold on to their cash than put it into slow-moving inventory.

Orders at his company, Diamond Cane International Inc., have nearly dried up, prompting Basubas to close one of his two factories.

Basubas, who has been in the business for 22 years, calls this "the worst time."

His company's yearly sales had been between $2.13 million and $4.25 million, but he said "we will be happy if we hit 50 million pesos ($1.06 million) this year."