WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Reserve, still working to combat the effects of a severe credit squeeze, said Tuesday it had auctioned another $50 billion to cash-strapped banks. Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund warned that further actions are needed globally to prevent more wrenching problems.The Fed auction marked the ninth in a series that so far have pumped $310 billion in short-term loans into the nation's banking system. The Fed has been holding its auctions to supply direct loans to commercial banks every two weeks starting in December. The auctions are only one of a number of emergency procedures the central bank has employed to battle the credit crisis.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues hope that the increased resources being supplied in the Fed auctions will encourage banks to keep lending to consumers and businesses and alleviate the economic drag from a severe credit squeeze that began last August.
In a related move, the European Central Bank, which serves the 15 nations that use the euro as their common currency, announced Tuesday that it had auctioned $15 billion in short-term credit to European banks. It was the sixth auction conducted in tandem with the Fed as the two central banks continue to coordinate their efforts to battle the credit crisis.