These guys can't even take the Holiday off. In one week, the Federal Reserve increased by 8.5% it's commercial paper (business loans).

The Federal Reserve expanded its purchases of commercial paper to $295.1 billion and its loans to securities firms increased as the central bank uses its balance sheet to combat the worst financial crisis in seven decades.

Cash borrowing by Wall Street bond dealers from the Fed totaled $55.9 billion on Nov. 26, up from $46.6 billion a week before.

Two other Fed programs also aid in the purchase of commercial paper. The face value of the holdings of the Commercial Paper Funding Facility, which started last month, increased by $23.1 billion from last week. A separate facility that offers loans to banks to buy asset-backed commercial paper from money-market funds fell to $53.3 billion from $61.9 billion a week earlier and a peak of $152.1 billion on Oct. 1

Statistics a little more clear from AP.

The Fed released a report Friday saying commercial banks averaged $93.6 billion in daily borrowing for the week ending Wednesday. That was up from an average of $91.6 billion for the week ending Nov. 19.

The report also said investment firms borrowed an average of $52.4 billion from the Fed's emergency loan program over the week ending Wednesday, up from an average of $50.2 billion the previous week.

The Fed said its net holdings of business loans known as commercial paper over the week ending Wednesday averaged $282.2 billion, an increase of $16.5 billion from the previous week