Fed Cuts Prime Rate

The Federal Reserve Board has cut the primary rate to 5 ¾%. According to a statement, “Financial market conditions have deteriorated, and tighter credit conditions and increased uncertainty have the potential to restrain economic growth going forward. In these circumstances, although recent data suggest that the economy has continued to expand at a moderate pace, the Federal Open Market Committee judges that the downside risks to growth have increased appreciably.”
In other bad news, published reports say Countrywide Financial, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, suffered a thirties-style bank run on Thursday, as anxious depositors rushed to withdraw their savings on news that the lender had to borrow $11.5 billion to stay afloat.