Credit crunch begins to ease

NEW YORK – As bank-to-bank lending rates slide lower, the credit climate is looking a bit brighter – at least for stronger companies.

Fear of a shutdown in lending is fading, but there remains a sense that when it comes to getting loans, U.S. businesses will be divided into haves and have-nots. As a result, the corporate landscape could look very different a year from now.

“The general economy was weakening, and that weakening has taken a turn for the worse. And any company that was already facing more challenging business conditions, when they’re confronted by tighter credit it gives them one less degree of flexibility,” said Robert DiClemente, an economist at Citigroup.

The auto industry remains in a state of disarray. General Motors Corp., which has been burning through more than $1 billion per month, wants to buy Chrysler to access its currency stockpile, but GM appears to be having trouble lining up financing. Some other companies are also having trouble nailing down funds to tide them over. Circuit City Stores Inc., for one, is preparing to close a fifth of its stores and cut thousands of jobs to avoid filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The Journal said Circuit City has retained investment bank Rothschild Inc. to talk to banks and get financing.

To be sure, companies that appear more creditworthy to banks should find loans more easily and more cheaply if the trends of the past week continue. The London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor, for three-month dollar loans dropped for the sixth straight day, falling by 0.36 percentage points to 4.06 percent.

The recent decline in this rate – which establishes lending costs for businesses and individuals – reflects greater trust in the financial sector after governments around the world have guaranteed billions of dollars worth in bank debt and pledged to buy stakes in ailing banks.

The decrease in Libor has helped ease some of the demand for Treasury bills, considered the ultimate safe asset. The yield on the three-month T-bill surpassed 1 percent for the first time in nearly two weeks, rising to 1.12 percent from 0.82 percent late Friday.

The Treasury Department auctioned $25 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 1.25 percent, up from 0.50 percent last week, and another $26 billion in six-month bills at a discount rate of 1.80 percent, up from 1.10 percent last week. Those higher rates for short-term government debt suggest “continued healing in the credit markets,” said Tony Crescenzi of Miller Tabak & Co. in a note Monday.

As funds slowly take money out of safe assets, they are returning to assets that carry a bit more risk. Crescenzi noted that the mortgage-backed securities market signaled “increased risk taking” on Monday.

And the market for commercial paper – the unsecured debt that companies sell for short-term financing – continued to improve.