A report from the Fed contradicts the meme that banks aren’t lending.

The Survey of Terms of Business Lending asks banks to disclose details on commercial and industrial loans they make during a given week in time. The results for the week chosen — Feb.2-6 — seems to demonstrate that banks are indeed lending. Here is what a JPMorgan Chase analyst had to say:

“Contrary to recent rhetoric that claims banks aren’t lending to businesses, today’s data show solid lending growth at record low contract rates. During the survey week, banks extended $95.6 billion in credit to businesses, an increase of 13% from the same quarter last year. Moreover, much of the recent decline in policy rates has passed through to rates facing businesses: the average rate for C&I loans in the first quarter was 2.34%, the lowest since the series began in 1997.”

more: here and here (Note, at the time I posted this the link to the Fed report was not working. I will update this if I find another link or it is working later.)