Securities backed by commercial mortgages – a sector of the market that has remained stubbornly distressed despite government interventions – were one of the few parts of credit markets that responded positively to the US government’s latest rescue plan.

The broader credit markets – including funding costs for companies with junk credit ratings – did not improve much amid concerns that the programme to rid banks of troubled loans and securities backed by these loans may not end the questions surrounding banks’ solvency which cloud the financial system.