After a bank rescue, a vertiginous plunge in share prices and a panic over interbank lending, the bankers and traders of Canary Wharf still felt able to have lunch. They streamed out of their glass towers as usual and piled up in pubs and restaurants and on the benches of marbled shopping arcades.

“It all looks all right to me,” Neil Jones, 52, a management consultant from Dulwich, said, viewing the mêlée over The Times crossword.

“I don't know if this lot are from Bear Stearns, but look around. People are rushing about spending money as usual.”

Over their coffees and tortilla wraps, older heads spoke philosophically about banking cycles, a bull market that could not last and the risk that is inherent in their profession and amply counterbalanced by generous salaries.

Lawyers worried that their business would dry up, young traders wondered if a property crash might allow them a foot on the housing ladder, and everyone worried about job losses.

“If you think this is one of the financial centres of the country, it will only really start to worry when people lose their jobs,” Mr Jones said.

“There will be quite a few more mishaps in the next two years, but at the moment they are thinking they are all right.”

From his perch against the window of a sandwich shop, a middle-aged banker watched traders and bankers roll off an escalator and pack themselves into cafés, cake shops and wine bars.

“Anyone who is into mortgages and retailing is pretty hard hit,” he said. “But a lot of people in the industry have got to accept that these things happen from time to time. That's what we get big salaries for. It's risk and reward.”

Things had been turbulent since the fall of Northern Rock, he said. “Bear Stearns is more serious because it's in America ... but it's a bit of a myth that people are jumping out of top-floor windows. I don't think anyone is miserable unless you know your job is going. If you work for Bear Stearns, you are miserable.”

Two members of this miserable contingent were propping up a nearby bar. They described themselves as “in shock”; they laughed occasionally as they discussed their predicament. “It's actually quite positive to have nothing to do,” said one. “We are able to go to the pub.”

One is an American. “There is quite a lot of expats at Bear Stearns and we are nervous,” he said. “Are we going straight home? Will anyone pick up our visas?

He added: “I don't think anyone's happy there apart from a few senior shareholders in JPMorgan. After they bought us their market cap went up while the rest of the market was falling.”

His colleague said: “Some desks have revealed their positions. Some haven't. It's kind of a day-to-day thing ... There is not a lot people can do but sit it out. There will be an interview process and they will either say we have a position for you at JP, which is unlikely, or we haven't.”

Both said they had entered the industry prepared for risk. “You don't expect to be at a bank forever,” the Englishman said. “You expect that maybe you will be fired. You don't expect this massacre. You don't expect your bank to go bankrupt.”

His colleague added: “Generally speaking, your bank shouldn't go bankrupt in 36 hours and your share price shouldn't drop from $30 to $2 out of trading hours.”

The rest of Canary Wharf's bankers were better disposed to be sanguine in the face of such mishaps. Finishing her coffee and preparing to return to her desk, a banker in emerging markets felt far more secure. “Job losses are coming in small doses but we have had a bull run for six years and this is one of those things. I have been around 15 years. I remember when Russia blew up in '97. The downfall in 2001. I'm sure if I stick around long enough I will see it happen all over again.”

Furiously smoking their final lunchtime cigarettes, two employees from HSBC's corporate finance department felt much was riding on the next two weeks. “The big American banks will publish their results,” said one. “People are getting a bit more concerned, but we will wait and see and try to keep our jobs.”

Meanwhile, beneath a ticker declaring job losses at Northern Rock, young currency traders could still find reasons to be cheerful. “It's Tuesday, which is better than Monday,” Joe Horner, 19, from Worldwide Currencies, said. “We have Easter on Friday and I'm looking forward to the sun coming out and girls wearing skirts.”

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