Last January, the Fed started lending through its term auction facility twice a month in order to flood the financial system with cash.

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To break this vicious circle, the Fed last year instituted its term auction facility, as an alternative to loans from the so-called discount window.

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Since August of that year, central banks have been intervening to keep them functioning, with a series of schemes like America's Term Auction Facility.

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The Fed's action, which came on the heels of increases to its Term Auction Facility Tuesday, gave stocks an early jolt but the market slid in the afternoon, with the major averages losing more than 5.0%.

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The credit rating agency referenced the December 3 offer by the Greek government to private investors to participate in a Dutch auction to exchange their sovereign bonds for short-term paper issued by the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).

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