WASHINGTON – Wall Street companies sharply scaled back their borrowing from the Federal Reserve's emergency lending program over the past week while commercial banks boosted it slightly.

A Fed report released Thursday said the investment firms averaged $1.7 billion in daily borrowing for the week ending July 2. That compared with $6.1 billion the previous week.

The investment houses were given similar loan privileges as commercial banks in March after a run on Bear Stearns pushed the nation's fifth-largest investment bank to the brink of bankruptcy and raised fears that other Wall Street firms might be in jeopardy. The company was taken over by JPMorgan.

Banks, meanwhile, averaged $14.9 billion in daily borrowing for the week. That compared with $14.7 billion in the previous week.

The identities of commercial banks and investment houses are not released.

In the broadest use of the central bank's lending power since the 1930s, the Fed in March scrambled to avert a market meltdown by giving investment houses a place to go for emergency overnight loans. The program will continue for at least six months. Commercial banks and investment companies now pay 2.25 percent in interest for the loans.

As part of efforts to relieve credit strains, the Fed auctioned $26.1 billion in Treasury securities to investment companies Thursday.

The auction drew bids for less than the $50 billion the Fed was making available, which was viewed as possible sign of some improvements in credit conditions.

In exchange for the 28-day loans of Treasury securities, bidding companies can put up as collateral more risky investments. These include certain mortgage-backed securities and bonds secured by federally guaranteed student loans.

The auction program, which began March 27, is intended to make investment companies more inclined to lend to each other. A second goal is providing relief to the distressed market for mortgage-linked securities and for student loans.

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