<p>Growth in US business loans has been steadily dropping this year and is now virtually stagnant. Company borrowing tends to be heavily influenced by how strict banks are, although there’s roughly a five-month lag. This suggests lending will start to shrink sharply next year, as shown in chart 1, ah, ah, ha …</p> <p class="text-align-center"><strong>The tightening noose of lending standards</strong></p> <p><img src="/sites/main/files/graph1.jpg" alt="The tightening noose of lending standards" width="1288" height="914"></p> <p>Source: Refinitiv, Rathbones</p>