Police in New York, New Jersey and Washington took precautions against truck bombs, and financial markets fell on Monday after authorities issued the most specific warning yet of a possible al Qaeda attack.
Clad in black armour with both hands on rifles ready to fire, police guarded key sites in New York, the city where almost 2,800 people were killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks that brought down the World Trade Centre. This time officers were on alert for possible truck bombs, suicide bombers and chemical and biological attack.
Security was ramped up and bridges and tunnels in and out of Manhattan and at buildings targeted in the latest intelligence, such as Citigroup headquarters in midtown Manhattan where employees lined up patiently to have their identification checked and their bags searched.
On Sunday, US Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge declared New York, Washington and financial centres on a code Orange, or "High" alert for attack - the nation's second highest level of security.
Unlike previous alerts, this one specifically mentioned buildings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington, Citigroup and the New York Stock Exchange in New York and Prudential Financial in New Jersey as being at risk from truck bombs or suicide bombers.
The latest threat is aimed squarely at the heart of the capitalist system - Citigroup is the world's largest financial services firm, the NYSE the world's biggest stock exchange, Prudential is a major insurance firm and the IMF and World Bank are used to head off global economic crises.
Security at the IMF and World Bank, already tight, was little changed while guards erected barricades at Prudential in Newark, New Jersey, to guard from truck bombs.
Workers on Wall Street were adamant the latest threats would not affect their day-to-day lives.
Politicians turned out for the start of trading at the NYSE as a show of business as normal.
"This city is always going to be a target as it represents the basic freedoms of America and the New York Stock Exchange to people around the world represents capitalism," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said after ringing the opening bell.
The FBI warned police to watch for bombs in subways and on other public transportation near buildings identified as possible al Qaeda targets.
World Bank President James Wolfensohn sought to reassure employees, telling them in a memo, "There is no information that indicates a specific time for these attacks nor is there any evidence that an attack is imminent."
The latest terror warnings came days after Pakistani authorities arrested top al Qaeda suspect Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani and others - a breakthrough they said yielded a lot of information but declined to link to the US terror alert.
The alert follows months of warnings by US officials that al Qaeda may attack before November's presidential election.
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