Major Banks Raise Prime Interest Rate To Record 15 Pet.: Banks Raise Prime Rate to 15 Percem
Moving even faster than the Federal Reserve apparently wants, several of the nationÛªs largest banks raised their prime lending rate yesterday from 14V2 percent to 15 percent, another record.</br></br>Morgan Guaranty Trust Co. of New York, the countryÛªs fifth largest bank, acted first. Other large banks in New York, Chicago and Philadelphia immediately followed suit.</br></br>Only two weeks ago, the prime rate, which banks charge their most creditworthy corporate customers, rose from 13Y2 percent to 14J/2 percent after a series of Federal Reserve actions reducing credit availability in an attempt to curb inflation.</br></br>Now rates to most borrowers are rising. Mortgage rates at some California savings and loan associations, for example, are 14 percent, and in some parts of the country, mortgage money is becoming difficult to find at any price.</br></br>In other economic news yesterday, two more major oil companies announced big increases in their third-quarter profits. Gulf Oil Corp., lifth largest among the majors, said its net income rose 97 percent from the comparable quarter a year ago to $416 million. At Conoco inc., the ninth largest, profits jumped 133 percent to $247.1 million.