Fed expands liquidity to soothe markets

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve on Friday announced steps to help ease persistent strains in credit markets, stepping up the size of some cash auctions for financial institutions and raising the amount of U.S. dollars it provides to the European Central Bank and Swiss National Bank.

The Fed said it was raising the amounts offered its Term Auction Facility auctions, which are held every two weeks, to $75 billion (38 billion pounds) from $50 billion, beginning with an auction on May 5.

It also said it was increasing an existing temporary currency swap line with the European Central Bank to $50 billion from $30 billion and increasing a swap line with the Swiss National Bank to $12 billion from $6 billion.

(Reporting by Tim Ahmann, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama,)

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