Banks, Wall Street firms borrow more from Fed (AP)

WASHINGTON - Banks and Wall Street firms ramped up borrowing from the Federal Reserve's emergency lending facility over the past week, a fresh sign of the credit stresses plaguing the country.

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A Fed report released Thursday says commercial banks averaged $21.6 billion in daily borrowing over the past week. That compared with a daily average of $19.8 billion in the previous week. For the week ending Sept. 17, Wall Street firms drew such loans averaging $20.3 billion. That step-up comes after six straight weeks where they didn't draw any loans. Their borrowing averaged as high as $38.1 billion a day over the course of a week in early April.

Full Story: Banks, Wall Street firms borrow more from Fed (AP)

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