Global central banks take action to prevent EU credit crunch

The US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the central banks of some of the world's key economies announced a co-ordinated emergency action to make it easier for banks to borrow US dollars - in effect preventing a global credit crunch.

The ECB and the Fed together with the Bank of England, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank on Wednesday agreed to lower by by 50 basis points the cost of dollar currency swaps.

It is the first such co-o...