FRANKFURT -- The European Central Bank pumped a record €442 billion ($622 billion) into euro-zone money markets Wednesday in its first-ever offer of one-year funds as it battles the Continent's recession.

Euro-zone banks borrowed the one-year funds, the largest amount the central bank has ever dispersed in a single shot, at the ECB's current key rate of 1%. Much of the total likely substituted for amounts banks had been borrowing from the ECB for shorter periods, so the net stimulus to the economy is less than it appears...