increasing emergency auctions by $40 billion

The Fed announced it was increasing the size of its emergency auctions by $40 billion and said it was going to provide $100 billion to primary dealers in U.S. Treasury debt.
Analysts said the money was clearly going to be used to prop up mortgage-backed securities.
Despite aggressive actions taken in recent months, a fresh wave of apprehension about the health of the U.S. and global financial markets has swept through credit markets this week. Credit spreads have widened.
Banks have already reported tens of billions in losses, mostly via complex securities tied to subprime mortgage loans, and there's concern that more losses are coming. In addition, fresh worries have surfaced about the health of the U.S. economy -- including a contraction in nonfarm payrolls for February reported early Friday