Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/central-banks-add-liquidity-to-wobbly-markets Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript President Bush addressed recent shifts in the financial sector, central banks flooded currency markets with cash in an attempt to spur banks to begin lending again and the presidential candidates offered fresh reactions to the crisis. Kwame Holman and Judy Woodruff recap the economic news of the day. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. JIM LEHRER: Another day in the financial crisis. The day began with an appearance by President Bush. NewsHour correspondent Kwame Holman has our report.GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States: The American people are concerned… KWAME HOLMAN: The president spoke shortly after the markets opened, having canceled travel to political fundraisers in order to remain in Washington for more talks with his economic team. GEORGE W. BUSH: In recent weeks, the federal government has taken extraordinary measures to address the challenges confronting our financial markets.We've taken control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the home finance agencies, to help promote market stability and to ensure they can continue to play a role in helping our housing market recover.This week, the Federal Reserve acted to prevent the disorderly failure of the insurance company AIG, a development that could have caused a severe disruption in our financial markets and threatened other sectors of the economy.Yesterday, the Security and Exchange Commission took action to strengthen investor protections and step up its enforcement actions against illegal market manipulation.Last night, the Federal Reserve, in coordination with central banks around the world, took a substantial step to provide additional liquidity to the U.S. financial system. These actions are necessary and they're important, and the markets are adjusting to them.Our financial markets continue to deal with serious challenges. As our recent actions demonstrate, my administration is focused on meeting these challenges. The American people can be sure we will continue to act to strengthen and stabilize our financial markets and improve investor confidence. KWAME HOLMAN: Last night, the Federal Reserve, along with central banks overseas, flooded currency markets with more than $200 billion in an attempt to spur skittish banks to begin lending again.It was the latest action in a tumultuous 10 days for world financial markets that's seen a paralysis in the ready availability of credit.In just more than a week, one of the storied names of Wall Street, Lehman Brothers, was left for dead, and the government took control of the nation's largest mortgage and insurance brokers.Last week, the government took over giant mortgage brokers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a move that puts U.S. taxpayers on the line for up to $200 billion.Tuesday night, the Federal Reserve made an emergency $85 billion loan to American International Group, or AIG, to save the insurance company from insolvency. The government took a nearly 80 percent stake in the company.