The Federal Reserve expanded its currency swap line with the European Central Bank by $10 billion and its swap line with the Swiss National Bank by $3 billion. That brought the total size of the currency swap facility to $277 billion, allowing foreign central banks to loan dollars to local banks.
In addition, the ECB said it would offer $35 billion in one-week loans as well as $30 billion in overnight loans. The Bank of England will provide $30 billion. Meanwhile stock indexes continued to fall. Japan's Nikkei 225 closed just under 1% lower Friday, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended the day down 1.33%. In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was 2.2% in afternoon trade, Germany's DAX was down 1.8% in afternoon trade and France's CAC 40 was 2% lower. - Andrew Bulkeley
Dealscape: Fed eases rules on private equity investment in banks
