Driven by the herky-jerky financial services industry, the overall size of the commercial paper market has risen for the fourth straight week.
Total outstanding paper rose from $11.1 billion to $1.614 trillion outstanding for the week ended on Wednesday, according to the Federal Reserve.
Virtually all of the gains came from the financial sector, which rose by $11.2 billion after falling by $15.7 billion the previous week. The non-financial market fell by $400 million.
The total market still is down from $1.82 trillion 10 weeks ago and the peak of $2.2 trillion during the summer of 2007.
The asset-backed commercial paper market fell slightly, by $500 million, after rising for three straight weeks. The Fed also reported that the size of the financial-issued market exceeds that of the non-financial market by more than three to one.