Authorities Confront Crisis

Financial authorities in several countries have been taking steps to ease the financial crisis.On Monday,the Federal Resrve and European Central Bank,as well as eight other central banks,more than doubled reciprocal swap lines,which provide access to U.S. dollars,to 620 billion dollars from 290 billion dollars.The Reserve Bank of Australia pumped 1.95 billion dollars into the market.The events of Black September,a month of financial meltdowns, shook institutions' confidence in dealing with each other and,so far, credit remains tight in spite of their best efforts.Banks continue to hoard cash in the money markets.Many believe that the central banks will have to coordinate an interest rate cut to break the credit logjam.Jean-Claude Trichet,President of the ECB,and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd have called on the U.S. Congress to pass the rescue plan for the common good.The U.S. Senate is to vote on the measure tonight.