When it comes to Lehman Brothers, everyone is walking on eggshells—including the Federal Reserve.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Fed called Credit Suisse in July to see if there was any truth to a rumor that the bank was planning to pull a line of credit to Lehman. Credit Suisse, the paper says, told the Fed it had no such intentions.

The call was "unusual," the Journal says, because of the implication that the Fed was hinting that Credit Suisse should keep backing Lehman.

"Urging lenders and trading partners to stick by an embattled firm also carries the risk that it will inflame the same anxieties that the Fed is trying to soothe. That is one reason why such calls occur rarely."

Felix Salmon points out that nothing in the article supports the idea that the Fed was subtly urging Credit Suisse to keep doing business with Lehman:

"All we're told is that the Fed 'quietly called' the bank to see if the rumor was true. Which is exactly what you'd hope the Fed would do if it heard that credit lines to a major investment bank were being pulled. And the Fed seems to have had no particular interest in managing or quashing rumors: Once it was assured that the rumor was not true, it seems to have let the matter drop."

So this may be what the Fed does as a matter of course. But by highlighting the Lehman rumor, the Journal is bolstering the view that Lehman is in a fragile state and in need of special help.

That view is highlighted by a report in the Financial Times, following on an article in the New York Post on Wednesday, that Lehman sought (but failed) to sell as much as 50 percent of the firm to the Korea Development Bank or to Citic Securities of China.

The Koreans apparently came the closest to striking a deal, but walked away after Lehman insisted on too high of a price.

"The talks reflect the growing pressure on Dick Fuld, Lehman's chief executive, to raise capital ahead of the mid-September earnings report," the Financial Times says.

Citic, however, told Reuters that it held no formal talks with Lehman.

With Lehman's share price down 79 percent this year, the parade of reports of missed opportunities to sell assets or stakes and reports of rumors quashed is certain to add to the pressure to oust Fuld as chief executive of Lehman.

If he intends to the be last C.E.O. standing on Wall Street, he needs to pull a rabbit out of the hat in the next two weeks.