S&L; Deposits Up Sharply; Wall St. Collapse Credited

Investors, apparently nervous about the collapse of the stock market in October, sharply increased their deposits at the nation’s savings and loan institutions, pushing deposit growth to its fastest pace in almost three years, the government reported today.

The Federal Home Loan Bank Board said net new deposits at savings institutions shot up $6.1 billion in October. That translated into an annualized growth rate of 21%, the fastest rate of increase since December, 1984.

The giant one-month gain was in sharp contrast to the general pattern for most of this year in which deposits have steadily dwindled at S&Ls; as investors sought other places to put their funds.

For the first 10 months of this year, net new deposits have fallen $7.7 billion but they would have been down by almost twice that amount if it had not been for the big increase in deposits in October.