U.S. Credit Growth: Is Anemic Lending an Early Sign of a Double-Dip American Downturn?

In spite of five straight quarters of loosening lending standards and strong U.S. credit growth data, actual loan growth in the U.S. economy is dangerously anemic.

What isn't apparent to investors is that the reason first-quarter gross-domestic-product (GDP) growth fell to 1.8% from the fourth quarter's more robust 3.1% rate is that loans and leases - which accounted for as much as 51.2% of U.S. GDP as recently as 2008 - fell to 45% of GDP in March.

Behind the headlines about positive credit trends, the truth is that weak loan demand will continue pressuring GDP growth and put a lid on some rising U.S. stock prices.

This underscores yet again how important so-called "capital waves" can be, why we need to watch them - and how we can employ them for profit.