Beijing has told mainland banks to raise their capital reserves in an attempt to rein in rapid lending that reached US$88 billion in the first week of 2010, the Financial Times reported. The People’s Bank of China also raised interest rates in the inter-bank market for the second time in a week. Economists said that Beijing was warning banks not to let lending in 2010 get out of control, after making more loans in one week in 2010 than they averaged in one month in 2009. Tom Orlik, of Stone & McCarthy in Beijing, said that the move was a "warning across the bows of the commercial banks. The central bank said that the high level of bank lending needs to come to an end but that the commercial banks do not seem to be taking it seriously." The move has led to a fall in stocks and commodities in Asia, as well as in the US and Europe, amid concerns that more forceful actions to curb lending in China could slow the country’s economic rebound.