Tuesday September 11, 12:28 pm Eastern Time

<font size=5>Federal Reserve to Provide Liquidity</font>

WASHING5 7TON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve said on Tuesday, in the wake of a series of devastating attacks on U.S. landmarks, that it is open and operating and <font color="#FF0000">that its discount window will provide liquidity to financial markets as needed</font>.

Central bank spokesman David Skidmore read a short statement on a conference call with reporters. He gave no further details.

In Basel, Switzerland, New York Fed President William McDonough told Reuters that the U.S. central bank is"copin 709g" with the situation.

Skidmore said he could not confirm the whereabouts of Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan except to say he was not at the Fed building in Washington, where Federal buildings have been evacuated amid the attacks.

The CNBC cable network said that the Fed chairman was safe and was still in Basel, Switzerland, where he was attending a central bankers' meeting.

Earlier on Tuesday, three hijacked planes crashed into major U.S. landmarks, destroying both of New York's twin World Trade Cente09r towers and destroying part of the Pentagon in Washington in an unprecedented assault on key symbols of U.S. military and financial power.

<font color="#FF0000">U.S. financial markets were closed but news of the incident wiped 288 points, or 5.7 percent, off the value of London's FTSE 100 index. The fall was the largest one-day point loss since October 1987 and erased 67 billion pounds from the index's value</font>.