Covid Supercharges Federal Reserve as Backup Lender to the World

When the coronavirus brought the entire world financial system to a halt in March, it fell to the U.S. Federal Reserve to maintain the wheels of finance turning for companies across America.

And when funds stopped flowing to a lot of banks and businesses outside America’s borders—from Japanese creditors making bets on U.S. corporate credit card debt to Singapore traders needing U.S. dollars to pay out for imports—the U.S. central bank stepped in yet again.

The…