Fed Takes New Steps on Credit Crisis

Friday March 7, 10:43 am ET
By Jeannine Aversa, Associated Press Writer Federal Reserve Announces Bigger Auctions to Banks to Help Ease the Credit Crisis WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Reserve is taking bigger steps to ease the nation's credit crisis, including increasing the amount of loans it plans to make available to banks this month to $100 billion.

The Federal Reserve announced Friday that it will boost the size of auctions planned for March 10 and March 24 to $50 billion each. That is up from the $30 billion limits it had previously announced. The auctions serve as short-term loans to get banks the cash they need to keep lending to their customers.