'Prime' slips to 18 1/2% at a couple of US banks

Morgan Guaranty Trust Company and Bank of New York Monday trimmed their prime lending rates a full point, 18 1/2 percent, resuming the uneven decline in the interest rate charged a bank's best business customers. Morgan, the nation's fifth-largest commercial bank, assumed the low position among major banks with its latest prime reductions. Other large institutions are charging up to 19 1/2 percent, but all have retreated from the peak 20 percent rate adopted early in April.