$180 billion to "save the world"

[lucrum]

I watch the news frequently these days and I'm actively reading this forum. However, at this time of my writing I could see nothing about the newly announced injection of $180 billion to "save the world" as they say.

Wierd that CNN and BBC showed nothing about this event, only Bloomberg.
Any comments on this?

Edit: Just discovered that BBC do have something on this matter, only slightly more subtle than other places I've seen it:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7622318.stm

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...uU8&refer=home

Central Banks Offer Extra Funds to Calm Money Markets (Update2)

By John Fraher and Simon Kennedy

Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan united with their counterparts around the world to offer an additional $180 billion to markets facing their worst crisis since the 1920s.

The Fed said it authorized central banks to auction the funds to ``to address the continued elevated pressures in U.S. dollar short-term funding markets.'' Policy makers ``continue to work together closely and will take appropriate steps to address the ongoing pressures,'' a joint release said. The Bank of England, the Bank of Canada and the Swiss National Bank also participated.

Finance officials have struggled to restore confidence in markets this week as concern mounted more banks will follow Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. into bankruptcy. The cost to hedge against losses on U.S. government debt climbed to a record yesterday, the U.K. government was forced to sponsor a rescue of mortgage lender HBOS Plc and Russia poured money into its banks.

``There's a complete lack of faith in the markets,'' said Jim O'Neill, chief economist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in London. ``There's a lot of cash hoarding and people losing trust in banks, so the central banks are acting to relieve that. This might not be the last time they have to act.''

Limit Doubled

The Fed said the ECB has been authorized to double its existing limit to $110 billion from $55 billion and the Swiss central bank can offer an extra $15 billion. New swap facilities with the Bank of Japan, the Bank of England and the Bank of Canada amount to $60 billion, $40 billion and $10 billion, respectively.

The Bank of Japan said its dollar-swap agreement will be conducted ``appropriately in view of the prevailing market conditions.'' That statement was published after its policy board held an emergency meeting in Tokyo today.

The action is the latest attempt by central bankers to coordinate their response to the financial crisis. In December, they joined forces to boost dollar liquidity around the world after interest-rate reductions in the U.S., the U.K. and Canada failed to ease concerns about bank lending.

The announcement boosted European shares and U.S. futures, which have been pummeled this week as contagion spread through financial markets. Europe's Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index, which has dropped 8 percent this week, gained 0.8 percent to 260.15. Futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 1.2 percent. More than $19 trillion has been wiped off the value of global stock markets since Oct. 31.

Failure to calm markets will see central banks inject even more cash, said Robert Barrie, an economist at Credit Suisse Group in London. Other options central banks could take include accepting greater collateral denominated in foreign currencies and increasing lending to banks abroad.

``The lack of dollars has been making the financial crisis worse around the world, which is why we now have this coordinated response,'' Barrie said.