Oct. 6--The jammed credit markets barely budged Monday as European governments scrambled to prop up their failing banks and investors waited for details on how, exactly, the Treasury will go about buying $700 billion of U.S. banks' mortgage assets.

If lending remains tight, it could cause more cash flow problems for the companies and municipalities that rely on the credit markets and banks for short-term loans.

Energy retailer Reliant Energy, for one, indicated Monday it may be searching for a buyer after getting slammed by stricter credit standards that forced it to raise $1 billion last week. Tobacco company Altria Group Inc. reportedly might delay its acquisition of smokeless tobacco maker UST Inc. at the suggestion of its lenders. And hotel company Wyndham Worldwide Corp. said tighter credit is forcing it to cut jobs and focus on cash flow instead of sales growth.

Bank-to-bank lending remained pricey Monday, indicating that financial institutions are still loath to lend.

The London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR, for 3-month dollar loans eased only slightly to 4.29 percent from Friday's nearly nine-month high of 4.33 percent. The overnight LIBOR for dollar loans -- which dropped Friday to a nearly four-year low just below 2 percent, the Federal Reserve's target overnight rate -- edged back up to 2.37 percent.

To address LIBOR, to which many adjustable-rate mortgages are tied, the Federal Reserve said Monday it will boost its three-month loans to banks to $150 billion apiece. The move should eventually help give banks more leeway to lend to others, but the process could take some time.

"There is some risk that the Fed just continues to pour in dollars, and people continue to hang onto them and don't share them," said Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ financial economist Christopher S. Rupkey. However, he said, "if you keep pouring in liquidity, banks will eventually settle down ... It's only been 21 days since Lehman went under. It's just going to take some time to work through this."

It might also take another interest rate cut, Rupkey said. The Fed's policymakers aren't scheduled to discuss rates until later this month, but could decide to lower rates in the interim. On Tuesday, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is speaking at the National Association for Business Economics' annual meeting.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s bankruptcy, along with the government's takeover of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and American International Group Inc., sent fear rippling through the global financial system last month.