From Bloomberg

Loans to commercial banks through the traditional discount window rose about $10 billion to $49.5 billion as of yesterday, the Fed said in a weekly report today. The total surpassed the previous record after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Borrowing by securities firms totaled $146.6 billion, up from $105.7 billion. Under a new emergency program announced Sept. 19, banks borrowed $152.1 billion as of yesterday to buy commercial paper from money-market mutual funds, more than double a week ago.

The report reflects the Fed's expansion of credit and emergency-lending programs to halt a yearlong credit crisis that pushed interest rates on three-month dollar loans today to a nine-month high as short-term corporate borrowing fell by the most ever.

``The financial system is on a lifeline,'' said Tony Crescenzi, chief bond market strategist at Miller Tabak & Co. in New York. ``The Fed will have to maintain this expansion of its balance sheet for quite some time.''

Expect a rate cut soon.