標題:US push for crisis breakthrough By Krishna Guha in Washington, Michael Mackenzie in New York, Ralph Atkins in Frankfurt and Paul Davies in London Published: September 18 2008 09:10 | Last updated: September 19 2008 01:37 A breakthrough agreement to create a giant US government-sponsored vehicle to take on toxic assets in the financial system looked possible on Thursday night as Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and top lawmakers convened a dramatic meeting to discuss the financial crisis. The US Treasury said the meeting discussed a “comprehensive approach to address the illiquid assets on bank balance sheets that are at the underlying source of the current stresses in our financial institutions and financial markets. “ The Treasury added that Mr Paulson and Mr Bernanke were “exploring all options, legislative and administrative, and expect to work through the weekend with Congressional leaders to finalise a way forward”. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said the administration had not yet presented a detailed proposal but congressional leaders looked forward to receiving one “in a matter of hours not days”. Hope that a deal could be in sight to create a vehicle loosely modelled on the Resolution Trust Corporation used to clean up the mess after the Savings and Loan crisis of the 1980s fuelled a late surge in stocks on Thursday, with the US S&P 500 index closing up 4.3 per cent, the biggest gain in nearly six years. This capped a remarkable day that began with a giant effort by the world’s central banks to support market liquidity. The central banks offered an extra $180bn to banks outside the US that are desperate for dollars. Meanwhile, regulators mounted fresh assaults on short-sellers dragging down bank shares. The UK’s watchdog took the drastic steps of banning the short-selling of financial stocks – a move unprecedented in modern times. Treasury and Fed officials discussed the idea of creating a government-sponsored vehicle to deal with toxic assets in recent days and sounded out leaders on Wall Street. But Mr Paulson was reluctant to put a plan forward unless he was confident it would pass Congress, for fear that a failed effort would destroy what remains of market confidence. Until the middle of this week, received wisdom was that it would be impossible to agree complex legislation putting large amounts of taxpayer money with very few legislative days left before the election. Even on Thursday, Democratic senator Charles Schumer said that the RTC itself was not the right model for dealing with this crisis. The discussions are certain to be fraught. Democrats may insist that any rescue involves aid for troubled homeowners as well as the financial sector. This would likely be resisted by many Republicans in Congress, some of whom are very hostile to putting more taxpayer money at risk. However, it appears that the terrifying events of the past week may have changed the political landscape so profoundly as to make RTC-type legislation possible – particularly if it came as part of a wider plan to help people threatened by the crisis. Some experts have suggested extending depositor protections, including to money market mutual funds. Earlier, the Federal Reserve gave central banks in Japan, the eurozone, the UK, Switzerland and Canada $180bn to lend on to local banks that cannot access its onshore dollar lending facilities. The central banks said they were taking “co-ordinated measures designed to address the continued elevated pressures in US dollar short-term funding markets”. They promised to “continue to work together closely” and to take “appropriate steps to address the ongoing problems”. The move had some success in bringing down overnight borrowing rates that had hit extraordinary levels on Wednesday and brought barometers of systemic stress back from historic highs. However, markets remained under enormous pressure, and the cost of borrowing money for periods of more than a few days went up in spite of the central bank operation. Many expect further giant liquidity operations in the coming days. “ It really felt like we were teetering on the brink of absolute disaster yesterday and it was still pretty grim at the start of today, ” said a senior liquidity manager at one large European bank. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008 http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e91b24b6-8557-11dd-a1ac-0000779fd18c.html 新聞來源: (需有正確連結) -- --

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