WASHINGTON — Banks have increased their borrowing from the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending program, while the use of some other credit programs fell.
The Fed on Thursday said commercial banks averaged $39.1 billion in daily borrowing over the week that ended Wednesday. That was up from $36.2 billion in the week ended June 17. Investment firms didn’t draw any loans for the sixth straight week. The last time they drew any money — $482 million — was in the week that ended May 13.
The Fed also moved Thursday to scale back some programs it launched last fall at the height of the financial crisis. It will allow one program intended to support money- market mutual funds — which hasn’t been used — to expire Oct. 30. And it’s reducing the maximum it will lend to banks under two other programs.
The lending report also showed the Fed’s net holdings of commercial paper averaged $128 billion over the week that ended Wednesday, a decrease of $7.9 billion from the previous week.
Commercial paper is the crucial short-term debt that companies use to pay everyday expenses, which the Fed began buying under the first-of-its-kind program Oct. 27, a time of intensified credit problems. The central bank has said about $1.3 trillion worth of commercial paper would qualify.
The report also showed the Fed stepped up its purchases of mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae. They averaged $467 billion over the past week, up $11.8 billion from the previous week. The goal of the program, which started Jan. 5, is to drive down mortgage rates and help the housing market.
However, mortgage rates resumed their upward march this week. Rates on 30-year home loans rose to 5.42 percent, from 5.38 percent last week, Freddie Mac reported Thursday.
