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Libor Falls Below 1% For The First Time

The three-month London interbank offered rate or Libor has fallen below 1% for the first time since its 1984 creation.

On Tuesday, Libor declined two basis points to 0.99%. The previous all-time low was 1%, which was reached in June 2003.

The rate is set by the British Bankers Association (BBA) in London and determines the borrowing cost for a wide range of investment vehicles, including corporate bonds and leveraged loans.

To get the rate, the BBA asks its bank members each day how much it would cost them to borrow from each other and then calculates the average. HSBC submitted the lowest rate for three-month loans at 0.90%, according to Bloomberg. The Royal Bank of Scotland quoted the highest, at 1.09%.

The Libor-OIS spread — the premium banks charge over what traders predict the Fed’s fund rate will average over the next three months — has dropped to 78 basis points from a high of 364 basis points in October.

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