Discount Window Borrowing Down 7.4%

WASHINGTON — Lending through the Federal Reserve Board's discount window fell 7.4% during the past week, to $103 billion on Wednesday.

Traditional borrowing by commercial banks declined 6.6%, to $43.8 billion and there was $62 million of loans to unhealthy banks, up from $60 million a week earlier.

Loans to investment banks were off 23%, to $8 billion.

The Fed said it had extended $44 billion by Wednesday through the discount window to support American International Group Inc. The central bank also has a limited liability corporation designed to help the insurance giant. Loans there were valued at $18.3 billion.

Lending against asset-backed commercial paper held by money market mutual funds was off 60%, to $804 million.

Separate from the discount window, the Fed said it purchased $242.4 billion in commercial paper by Wednesday, up 1.7% from a week earlier.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York purchased $41.5 billion of mortgage-backed securities from the government-sponsored enterprises during the past week: $30.2 billion from Fannie Mae; $9.5 billion from Freddie Mac and $1.8 billion from Ginnie Mae. Total purchases were up 36.5% from a week earlier.

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