Reuters' wrote late Friday "Money Markets - Libor eyed as other short-term U.S. rates fall". The article commented, "As short-term U.S. rates fall, all eyes are on a dollar borrowing rate that is stubbornly immobile: the London interbank offered rate. Libor is an important benchmark for consumer and business loans in the United States and analysts expect it to fall soon.... But even as supply scarcity pushes down short-term Treasury rates, the Libor has held steady, just marginally ticking lower in its last setting on Thursday night." The piece quotes Barclays Capital's Joseph Abate, "Bank funding costs have been surprisingly sticky despite the declines in other front-end rates." Reuters says, "He said worries over banks' credit-worthiness among the banks on the panel in charge of setting the Libor rate each night, as well as skittishness among money market fund managers, has helped keep the Libor elevated."
