Money-market indicators showed short-term dollar funding levels eased with the rate banks say they can borrow from each other in London at a 20-month low. The three-month dollar London interbank offered rate, or Libor, held for a second day at 0.2771 percent, the lowest since Aug. 8, 2011, according to the British Bankers’ Association. The Libor-OIS spread, a gauge of banks reluctance to lend, narrowed to 14.5 basis points from 14.7 basis points the day earlier. Overnight index swaps, or OIS, give traders predictions on where the Fed’s effective funds rate will average for the term of the swap. The central bank’s target rate is set in a range of zero to 0.25 percent. Predictions in the forward market for Libor-OIS, known as the FRA/OIS spread, fell the third day to 18 basis point from 18.5 basis points, according to the second rolling three month contracts. The difference between the two-year swap rate and the comparable-maturity Treasury note yield, known as the swap spread, narrowed 0.24 basis point to 14.2 basis points. The gap is a gauge of investors’ perceptions of U.S. banking sector credit risk as swap rates are derived from expectations for dollar Libor. Swap rates serve as benchmarks for investors in many types of debt, including mortgage-backed and auto-loan securities. The seasonally adjusted amount of U.S. commercial paper rose $19.5 billion to $1.0217 trillion in the week ended April 10, according to Federal Reserve data. Euribor-OIS Spread The cost for European banks to convert euro-denominated payment streams into dollars-based funding via the cross currency swaps market held steady. The three-month cross- currency basis swap was 16.9 basis points below Euribor. Foreign-exchange swaps are typically for periods of less than a year, while cross-currency basis swaps usually range from one to 30 years. The latter are agreements in which a person borrows in one currency and simultaneously lends in a different currency. The trade involves the exchange of two different floating-rate payments, each denominated in a different currency and based on a different index. The Euribor-OIS spread, the difference between the euro interbank offered rate and overnight indexed swaps, widened. The measure of banks’ reluctance to lend to one another was 13.2 basis points compared with 12.9 basis points. Repo Rates The overnight Treasury general collateral repurchase agreement rate opened today at 0.25 percent, according to ICAP Plc, the world’s largest inter-dealer broker. The average rate for borrowing and lending Treasuries for one day in the repo market was 0.202 percent yesterday, according to a GCF repo index provided on a one-day lag by the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. Securities dealers use repos to finance holdings and increase leverage. Securities that can be borrowed at interest rates close to the Fed’s target rate are called general collateral. Those in highest demand have lower rates and are called “special.� The average rate for overnight federal funds, known as the fed effective rate, was 0.15 percent yesterday. The rate opened today at 0.16 percent. The effective rate is a volume-weighted average of trades between major brokers for overnight funds, reported on a day lag by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. To contact the reporter on this story: Liz Capo McCormick in New York at emccormick7@bloomberg.net

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