, Columnist
Dollar Funding Is Freezing Up, and the Fed Knows It
The central bank’s latest measures don’t go far enough to ease the flow of credit around the world.
Dollar crunch.
Photographer: Ullstein Bild/Getty
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Demand for U.S. dollars is so high that now there’s a squeeze in credit markets. And the Federal Reserve knows it.
Big corporations from beer brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev SA to Boeing Co. are drawing down billions from their credit lines. Fearful of margin calls and flash crashes, lenders are piling on reserves. Adding to the hair-raising market volatility, banks that typically provide short-term dollar loans are stepping back.