WASHINGTON — Lending through the Federal Reserve Board's discount window was virtually unchanged during the past week, resting at nearly $124 billion on Wednesday.
Traditional borrowing from commercial banks fell 15.9%, to $35.4 billion and there was $3 million in loans to weak financial institutions.
Borrowing against asset-backed commercial paper held by money market mutual funds fell 14.6%, to $20.2 billion.
Investment banks continued to abstain from the discount window for the fifth week in a row.
Separate from the discount window, the Fed purchased $138.4 billion in commercial paper by Wednesday, a 2.9% decline from a week earlier.
Reserves held by financial institutions at the central bank fell 3.4%, to $815.7 billion. The Fed's balance sheet shrank 1.2%, to $2.1 trillion.
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York purchased $54.7 billion in mortgage-backed securities from the government-sponsored enterprises over the past week: $40.7 billion from Fannie Mae; $12.4 billion from Freddie Mac and $1.6 billion from Ginnie Mae.