Business Services Industry

Daily Mail, London, Andrew Alexander Column.

Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, December, 2001

By Andrew Alexander, Daily Mail, London Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Dec. 17--Alan Greenspan's kettle will not boil. Despite the Federal Reserve boss's recordbreaking 11 interest rate cuts, the vital figure for US commercial lending is still falling.

A Fed survey shows banks are exceptionally reluctant to lend to large and medium- sized businesses and many companies cannot afford the present borrowing rates, which obstinately defy Greenspan's cuts.

He is being frustrated by our old friend the yield curve, which measures how interest rates vary according to the length of the loan.

Short-term rates, now that the official level is down to 1.75 percent, are, of course, very cheap. But as you go up the curve, rates rise sharply....

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