Bank Lending | featured news

Central bank bumps up cost for emergency loans to banks, but says move on benchmark rate is not imminent.

The increase in the discount rate is seen as a first step by the Fed to normalize lending after more than two years of extraordinary actions to prop up the economy.

Most banks have stopped toughening their lending standards for consumers and businesses, and manufacturing activity is at the highest levels in five years—both further signs of a strengthening U.S. economy.

China's economic growth picked up last quarter as expected as a combination of breakneck investment and buoyant bank lending more than made up for a slump in exports.