US lending landscape still bleak, Fed finds

Lending conditions continue to tighten, and demand for loans is still falling, according to the latest survey of US bank loan officers by the Federal Reserve. The survey, carried out last month and covering the first quarter of 2010, found that a majority of US banks are tightening conditions on all forms of lending, and demand for credit from retail and commercial borrowers is still weakening.

But the US credit crisis could finally be bottoming out. More banks tightened than loosened their