Friday, March 7, 2008

Fed will pump in $200 bil

--The Federal Reserve moved to add asmuch as $200 billion to the banking system over the next monthto offset a deepening credit crisis that may have already pushedthe U.S. economy into a recession. --The central bank raised to $50 billion each from $30billion the amount intended for auctions of funds on March 10and March 24. The Fed also said in a statement in Washingtontoday that it will make $100 billion available through weekly28-day repurchase agreements, where the central bank will lendcash in return for assets including mortgage-backed bonds. --The decision is the central bank's latest attempt to reduce the threat to the economy from banks curtailing loans tocompanies and households. Banks and securities firms have postedlosses exceeding $188 billion since the start of last year asthe impact of surging defaults on subprime mortgages rippledthrough world financial markets. --The Federal Reserve on Friday announced two initiatives to address heightened liquidity pressures in term funding markets. --First, the amounts outstanding in the Term Auction Facility(TAF) will be increased to $100 billion. The auctions on March --Second, beginning today, the Federal Reserve will initiatea series of term repurchase transactions that are expected to cumulate to $100 billion. These transactions will be conducted

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