WASHINGTON — The value of the assets taken on by the Federal Reserve Board from Bear Stearns Cos. last March lost more than $3.2 billion by yearend, the central bank said Thursday.
The Bear assets that were originally worth $29 billion were worth $25.8 billion as of Dec. 31. The Fed's intervention helped sell Bear to JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Also Thursday, the Fed said borrowing from the discount window rose 3.7%, to $154.8 billion. Lending to commercial banks jumped 8.6%, to $68.3 billion. Investment banks borrowed $32.2 billion, a 3.3% drop from a week earlier. Lending to AIG totaled $38.3 billion.
Fed loans against asset-backed commercial paper held by money market mutual funds increased 8% during the week, to nearly $16 billion.
Separate from the discount window loans, the amount of commercial paper held by the Fed fell by 29.2%, to $248.1 billion, as more than $100 billion matured.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said it purchased $16.8 billion in mortgage-backed securities from the government-sponsored enterprises between Jan. 22 and 28: nearly $7.2 billion from Fannie Mae, $5.3 billion from Freddie Mac, and $4.3 billion from Ginnie Mae.
Total assets held by the Fed fell 5.6%, to $1.9 trillion. Bank reserves stationed at the Fed dropped 8.4%, to $740.4 billion.
