Banks, investment firms draw less from Fed

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Reserve said Thursday that banks and investment firms borrowed far less over the past week from its emergency lending program, a hopeful sign some credit stresses are easing.

The Fed said commercial banks averaged $40.9 billion in daily borrowing over the past week ended Wednesday. That was down from $44.8 billion in the week that ended April 29.

Investment firms drew just $643 million over the past week from the Fed program, down from an average of $5.5 billion the previous week.

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