Thursday, January 30, 2014

SBA Loans Are Good For the Economy

SBA 7(a) loan volume slowed in the fourth quarter of 2013.  As if on cue, the economy also slowed.

According to the Department of Commerce, the U.S. economy grew at a 3.2% annual clip in the fourth quarter.   That represents a slowdown from the third quarter's growth rate of 4.1%.

Here is what GDP has been doing and this week’s interesting little table of data:

4th quarter 2013              3.2%
3rd quarter 2013              4.1%
2nd quarter 2013             1.7%
1st quarter 2013              1.1
4th quarter 2012:             0.1%
3rd quarter 2012:             2.8%
2nd quarter 2012:          1.2%
1st quarter 2012:            3.7%

Contrast that with quarterly SBA 7(a) loan volume:

4th quarter 2013:             $3,989,696,000
3rd quarter 2013:             $5,371,662,000
2nd quarter 2013              $4,273,683,000
1st quarter 2013               $4,049,146,000
4TH quarter 2012             $4,173,790,000
3rd quarter 2012              $4,359,166,000
2nd quarter 2012              $4,039,042,000
1st quarter 2012                 $3,443,723,000

Notice how third quarter growth in GDP had jumped over the prior period?  Same thing happened with SBA 7(a) loan volume.

Notice how fourth quarter 2012 growth really slowed?  SBA 7(a) loan volume had also declined.

The correlation of SBA 7(a) loan approvals with our nation's economic performance appears to be quite strong.  Just for fun I calculated the correlation coefficient between SBA 7(a) loan volume and GDP for over six years using the Microsoft CORREL function. 


It came out to a statistically significant 0.86.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

SBA Loans Are Good For the Economy

SBA 7(a) loan approvals jumped up to $311,318,000 for the week ending January 17th.  Borrowers and lenders are getting back to work after the Christmas holidays.

The correlation coefficient between SBA 7(a) loan approvals and our gross domestic product is a statistically significant 0.86!

Monday, January 27, 2014

The SBA and smellfungus

smellfungus
smel-FUNG-uhs
A habitual faultfinder or complainer.

After Smelfungus, a hypercritical character in Laurence Sterne's 1768 novel, A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy.

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TIP OF THE WEEK 

NO BODY should be a smellfungus about SBA loans.

To improve customer service and reduce processing times, the 7(a) Loan Guaranty Processing Center (LGPC) is further refining the loan guaranty submission process.  SBA Procedural Notice 5000-1304 requires all lenders to submit applications to the LGPC using the 10-Tab format for all loan guaranty requests beginning March 1, 2014.

The LGPC Submission Checklist has been updated to reflect the NEW submission forms and additional documentation now required.

Borrowers now have only TWO forms they need to sign and date (three if you count IRS form 4506 but now prior to submission of the application to the LGPC lender must obtain verification of the tax returns).
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Indices:
PRIME RATE= 3.25%
SBA LIBOR Base Rate January 2014 = 3.17%
SBA Fixed Base Rate January 2014 = 5.59%
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SBA 504 Loan Debenture Rate for January  

The debenture rate is only 3.46% but note rate is 3.516% and the effective yield is 5.541%
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AHEAD OF THE YIELD CURVE 
The Federal Reserve meets this week.

At its last meeting on monetary policy, the Federal Open Market Committee strengthened its commitment to keep the fed funds rate low, stating that a rise in the target rate would not come until the unemployment rate was “well past” the current threshold of 6.5 percent.   

With the unemployment rate now down to 6.7 percent, does that mean interest rates could possibly be heading up?  Minutes from the last FOMC meeting revealed that a few members suggested lowering the unemployment threshold to 6 percent.

So where then are interest rates going?

Eurodollar futures settle at a three- month lending rate that has averaged about 22 basis points more than the Fed's target over the past 10 years.

Here is a summary of what the market expects for Eurodollar futures based upon the pit-traded prices at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange:

DEC14- 0.40
DEC15- 1.06
DEC16- 2.16
DEC17- 3.11
DEC18- 3.78
DEC19- 4.23
DEC20- 4.50

What does all this mean?

I don’t know.

Traders are betting the Federal Reserve won’t raise interest rates any time soon.

No body has to be a smellfungus about variable interest rates.

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OFF BASE
For some strange reason Super Bowl Monday is not a national holiday.

It might have to be as the game might even have to be played on Monday.

If the idea of Super Bowl XLVIII being played a day later than Sunday, Feb. 2 seems preposterous, it could happen if a massive snow storm is forecasted for northern New Jersey that weekend.  NFL officials on Wednesday conceded that contingency plans call for the championship game to be played at any point between Friday, Jan. 31 and Monday, Feb. 3 at MetLife Stadium.


I don’t want to be a smellfungus about this but after Washington’s Birthday we don’t have another holiday again until Memorial Day.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

SBA Loans Are Good For the Economy

SBA 7(a) loan approvals totaled $244,488,000 for the week ending January 10, 2014.

This is a slow start to the year as this was the first full work week after Christmas and New Year's.  The week before, ending January 3rd, SBA 7(a) loan approvals totaled $231,968.

SBA 7(a) loan volume is a leading economic indicator with a statistically significant correlation coefficient of 0.86 to GDP.


Wednesday, January 15, 2014

SBA 504 Loan Debenture Rate for January

SBA 504 Loan Debenture Rate for January    

The debenture rate is only 3.46% but note rate is 3.516% and the effective yield is 5.541%

Monday, January 13, 2014

SBA Loans Are Good For the Economy

SBA 7(a) loan volume for month of December ended up at $1,806,928,000.  That’s a nice jump from November’s $1,303,555,000 in SBA 7(a) loan approvals.

It was not enough however to shake off the dip in activity caused the shutdown of the government in October.  

SBA 7(a) loan volume for the quarter ending December 31, 2013 was $3,989,696,000.  

Fourth quarter SBA 7(a) loan approvals ended up being the lowest since the first quarter of 2012.

Here is a breakdown of SBA 7(a) quarterly loan volume for the last two years:

4th quarter 2013:             $3,989,696,000
3rd quarter 2013:             $5,371,662,000
2nd quarter 2013              $4,273,683,000
1st quarter 2013               $4,049,146,000
4TH quarter 2012             $4,173,790,000
3rd quarter 2012              $4,359,166,000
2nd quarter 2012              $4,039,042,000
1st quarter 2012                 $3,443,723,000



Remember, SBA 7(a) loan volume is a leading economic indicator as the correlation coefficient between SBA 7(a) loan volume and GDP is a statistically significant 0.86.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

SBA 7(a) Loan Rate Update

Indices:

PRIME RATE= 3.25%
SBA LIBOR Base Rate January 2014 = 3.17%
SBA Fixed Base Rate January 2014 = 5.59%
Lenders can charge up to 2.75% over these indices.

Monday, January 6, 2014

The SBA and adumbrate

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
adumbrate
a-DUM-brayt, AD-uhm-brayt
1. To foreshadow.
2. To give a rough outline or to disclose partially.
3. To overshadow or obscure.

From Latin umbra (shade, shadow), which also gave us the words umbrella, umbrage, and somber.
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TIP OF THE WEEK 

The Small Business Administration has adumbrated the changes for SBA loans for some time now.

Those changes are in the SOP 50-10-5(F) which became effective January 1, 2014.

It is now easier to obtain a SBA loan and more borrowers can qualify.
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Indices:
PRIME RATE= 3.25%
SBA LIBOR Base Rate January 2014 = 3.17%
SBA Fixed Base Rate January 2014 = 5.59%
________________________________________

SBA 504 Loan Debenture Rate for December  

The debenture rate is only 3.36% but note rate is 3.44% and the effective yield is 5.458%
 ________________________________________________

AHEAD OF THE YIELD CURVE 
The Federal Reserve does a good job of adumbrating.

At its last meeting on monetary policy, the Federal Open Market Committee strengthened its commitment to keep the fed funds rate low, stating that a rise in the target rate would not come until the unemployment rate was “well past” the current threshold of 6.5 percent.   

Keep your eyes and ears open for this week’s Department of Labor report on jobs.  It will be for the month of December and will give us a look at how 2013 ended up.

Here is a summary of net payroll employment and this week’s interesting little table of data:

2004     2,019,000
2005     2,484,000
2006     2,071,000
2007    1,115,000
2008     -3,617,000
2009     -5,052,000
2010     1,022,000
2011      2,103,000
2012     2,193,000
2013     2,074,000

What does this mean?

I don’t know.

Through November 2013, the economy has added an average of 173 thousand jobs per month.  According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, its jobs calculator estimates that it will take another year before the unemployment rate hits 6.5 percent assuming the average monthly change in payroll is 172,777.  

The FOMC’s median end-of-year fed funds rate projection—1.0 percent by 2015 and 2.0 percent by 2016 in September—has moved to 0.75 percent and 1.75 percent, respectively.

It would appear that we don’t have to worry about interest rates going up this year.

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OFF BASE
For those of you still in the Christmas spirit, today is your last day.  

The Twelfth Day of Christmas is today, January 6th.  

It’s not the twelve days before Christmas, but the twelve days after Christmas.   It ends on January 6th on what is known as the Epiphany (with a big E) which celebrates when the three wise men came with gifts for the baby Jesus.  This day was once as celebrated as Christmas.

Based on the array of gifts in the holiday classic, “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” PNC Bank released its 2013 PNC Christmas Price Index.  

The price tag for the PNC CPI is $27,393.17 in 2013, $1,192 more than last year and the largest increase since 2010 when the index jumped 9.2 percent.  Nine Ladies Dancing vaulted with a 20 percent jump this year, while Lords-a-Leaping jumped 10 percent, combining for a $1,736 increase from 2012.   

All that dancing and leaping helped prompt a 7.7 percent boost in the 2013 PNC Christmas Price Index®.   This year, the PNC CPI’s increase outpaced the government’s Consumer Price Index, which stands at 1.2 percent for the past 12 months. 

Now the Christmas lights really have to come down.  Don’t despair however; our next holiday is almost here.  

According to the Federal Reserve, here are our holidays for 2014:


Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. January 20
Washington's Birthday February 17
Memorial Day May 26
Independence Day July 4
Labor Day September 1
Columbus Day October 13
Veterans Day November 11
Thanksgiving Day November 27
Christmas Day December 25