Here's hoping CEO Kerry Killinger had easy access to a lot of Dramamine last week, because Washington Mutual's roller-coaster ride was enough to give anyone motion sickness.

Of course, WaMu wasn't the only newsmaker in the state. Boeing made a pretty fair showing at the Farnborough Air Show. Microsoft lowered its profit projections for the next few quarters, saying it plans to step up its investment in online services and advertising. Starbucks released its list of the 600 under-performing stores it's closing, 19 of which are here in Washington.  

But WaMu's ups and downs at the hands of panicky stock market were clearly the top story of last week.

It started on Monday, when WaMu shares set a one-day record for losses, falling 40 percent from $5.20 to $3.14 - the lowest price WaMu has traded at since the weeks following its initial public offering back in 1990, when it was a humble Seattle savings and loan. The failure of California's IndyMac bank spooked investors already made jittery by worrisome news over the weekend regarding Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the government-established companies that hold about half of all U.S. mortgages. Sobering Congressional testimony from Fed chief Ben Bernanke added to the downbeat climate.

"Fear brings more fear, and this is a market that's sell first, and do work later," Oppenheimer regional bank analyst Terry McEvoy told Forbes.com.

On Tuesday, however, the panic subsided. WaMu issued a statement reassuring investors that it has $40 billion in cash to tap, which it considers enough to be "well capitalized." Stock prices swung wildly during the day, but ended up 41 cents higher at the close.

The rebound started on Wednesday, as a strong earnings report from Wells Fargo gave Wall Street hope that the lending industry might not be so bad off after all. Stocks rose 92 cents on the day, to close at $4.53 - a 25 percent gain. The rally continued on Thursday, with WaMu shares jumping another 15 percent, to $4.92. And on Friday, Citigroup's announcement of a smaller-than-expected loss for the first quarter fueled continued gains in WaMu's price. It ended the week at $5.92 - an 83 percent gain over Monday's close.

But that doesn't mean Washington Mutual's out of the woods. A credit rating agency warned it was placing investment notes backed by WaMu credit card payments on a watch list; late payments and charge-offs are rising, the agency warned. It was reported that restrictions placed on the thrift by investors TPG Inc., which bought $7 billion worth of stock this spring, could make it hard for it to raise more capital. And one financial blogger noted that WaMu remains one of the most-heavily shorted stocks, meaning that a lot of investors are betting their own money that share prices will drop even farther.

It was one year ago this week, July 24, 2007, that Washington Mutual shares began their decline, dipping under $40 a share for the first time in almost five years. Since then, shares have lost 92 percent of their value. WaMu will announce its second-quarter earnings on Tuesday. Investors are going to want reassurance that the stomach-churning free-fall is over, because at Friday's close, a share of WaMu stock wasn't quite worth the price of a bottle of Pepto-Bismol.