Wall Street area taps most loans in Fed's first term auction facility

The U.S. Federal Reserve announced that $16.5 billion of its first $20 billion in loans under its term auction facility went to institutions in the New York district [subscription required], an area that includes the headquarters of some of the nation's largest banks, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The Fed doesn't disclose loan sizes or borrowers' identities.

Meanwhile, the Fed's Dallas district reported loans of $1.4 billion, while the St. Louis district reported loans of $1 billion.

Earlier this fall, the Fed established the term auction facility as an alternative short-term loan operation because banks were reluctant to access the Fed's traditional short-term window, the discount window. Banks became reluctant to borrow from the discount window because of the stigma attached: doing so can telegraph distress to other banks.

Fed Analysis: So far, the Fed's effort, along with the effort of the European Central Bank and other major central banks, to provide short-term loans to banks appears to be working. Both overnight and two-week liquidity has improved, as measured by yield spreads and transaction conditions. A later announcement by the Fed to maintain the term auction facility "for as long as necessary" further calmed the markets. Still, investors/readers should keep in mind that the housing correction / credit quality issue is young: given the plethora of at-risk subprime loans and related assets, more default declarations are undoubtedly ahead in 2008.