Banks borrow more from Fed; investment cos. none

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve says banks boosted borrowing from its emergency lending program, while investment firms took a pass for the third straight week.

The Fed says commercial banks averaged $41.9 billion in daily borrowing over the week that ended Wednesday. That was up from $38.2 billion in the week ending May 27.

Investment firms didn't draw any loans over the past week from the Fed program. The last time firms drew any money — just $482 million — was in the in the week that ended May 13. The following week, the firms didn't draw any loans, the first time that had happened since early September.

The identities of the financial institutions are not released. They pay just 0.50 percent in interest for the emergency loans.