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CREDIT UNIONS HOPE FOR OK ON MORE BUSINESS LOANS

Minnesota’s credit unions hope to get the OK from Congress this year to lend much more to businesses than current regulations allow. First, they’ll have to overcome a weak lending market and opposition from the banking industry. Business lending by credit unions is capped now at 12.25 percent of all their assets. The Small Business Lending Enhancement Act, introduced in Congress last March, would raise that cap to 27.5 percent.

GREECE BAILOUT AN 'IMPORTANT STEP,' TREASURY'S BRAINARD SAYS

European leaders' rescue plan for Greece is an "important step" and the continent's challenges include boosting economic growth, the U.S. Treasury Department's top international official said. "There are a number of additional steps that are going to be necessary to put Greece firmly on a sustainable path as part of a kind of an overall framework to put Europe on a much stronger footing," Lael Brainard, Treasury undersecretary for international affairs, said in an interview yesterday on the "Charlie Rose" show broadcast on PBS and Bloomberg Television.

ANALYSIS: FEARS OF SLOWDOWN FADE AS ECONOMY SHOWS SOME MUSCLE

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A few months ago economists were all but certain the U.S. economy would slow sharply at the start of this year, with many warning that recession risks were growing. That pessimism has been shaken off by a string of surprisingly solid data that paint a picture of an economy with building momentum. The jobs market is picking up, manufacturing is accelerating and the service sector is also flexing its muscle - good news for President Barack Obama, who faces an election battle in November.

BEST BUY JUMPS INTO SMALL BUSINESS IT

Next week brings the expected closing of the world's largest electronics chain's deal to buy Mindshift Technologies Inc. ZDNet.com, a technology news site, called it a "watershed moment for small business IT services." Mindshift, of Waltham, Mass., was founded in 1999, and provides IT services to more than 5,400 small and medium-sized businesses throughout the U.S.

BORROWERS TURN LENDERS AS BANKS TAP FIRMS FOR CASH

LONDON (Reuters) - Leading investors, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Peugeot are among firms bailing out Europe's ailing banks in a reversal of the established roles of clients and lenders.

CONSUMER CREDIT SURGES BY MOST SINCE 2001

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. consumer credit surged 10 percent in November, its biggest jump in a decade in a positive signal for the economy as consumers tapped their credit cards and the government doled out more student loans.