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US Fed Total Discount Window Borrowings Wed $108.53 Billion



By Meena Thiruvengadam, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The U.S. Federal Reserve's asset holdings expanded in the latest week as the value of mortgage-backed securities on the central bank's balance sheet rose by more than $70 billion.

The Fed's asset holdings in the week ended Nov. 18 rose to $2.212 trillion from $2.138 trillion a week earlier, the Fed said in a weekly report released Thursday.

Total discount window borrowing climbed to $108.53 billion on Wednesday from $ 107.77 billion a week earlier.

Borrowing by commercial banks through the Fed's discount window crept upward slightly to $19.94 billion on Wednesday from $19.88 billion a week earlier.

Meanwhile, borrowing by primary dealers through a credit facility created following the collapse of Bear Stearns on Wednesday remained at zero for a 28th- straight week.

The Fed's portfolio of Treasury securities in the latest week edged up to $ 776.53 billion from $776.52 billion in the previous week as holdings of mortgage-backed securities jumped to $847.04 billion from $775.57 billion a week earlier.

The face value of the Fed's holdings of commercial paper rose to $10.51 billion on Wednesday from the previous week's $9.78 billion.

Meanwhile, U.S. government securities held in custody on behalf of foreign official accounts rose to $2.933 trillion from $2.916 trillion in the previous week.

Treasurys held in custody on behalf of foreign official accounts as of Wednesday hit $2.166 trillion, up from $2.154 trillion in the previous week. Meanwhile, holdings of agency securities climbed to $766.39 billion from the prior week's $761.78 billion.

-By Meena Thiruvengadam, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6629; meena.thiruvengadam@dowjones.com


  (END) Dow Jones Newswires
  11-19-091805ET
  Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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