Yearend is full of “best of’s” and “worst of’s.” I must admit that I find most of them pretty tiresome. It’s only 30 December, but I found the best of the best news item today. It was about lending. Okay, okay, nobody else in my family got excited – nothing about the best films, songs, tv shows, or other cool stuff…but – for the first time in two years, some of the big US banks are starting to increase their lending to businesses. Moody’s estimates that commercial and industrial lending in the fourth quarter grew 0.2% from the 3rd quarter, the first quarterly increase in two years. JPMC announced a 7% increase in loans to middle market companies, and lending to small businesses is up more than 40% in 2010.
This is good news for the economy, and good news for banks, who need to start making money the old fashioned way – lending and borrowing – rather than just on trading and advisory services. Good news indeed.
Happy New Year all.
