Fed lent $300B in emergency funds to banks in the past week

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Federal Reserves says cash-short banks have borrowed about $300 billion in emergency funding from the central bank in the past week.

Nearly half the money - $143 billion - went to holding companies for the two major banks that failed over the past week, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, triggering widespread alarm in financial markets.

An additional $148 billion in lending was provided through a longstanding program called the “discount window,” and amounted to a record level for that program.