U.S. Commercial Loan Growth Signals Greater-Than-Expected Economic Resilience

Business lending is a key gauge of corporate investment, inventories and working-capital needs. Continued borrowing growth amid rising inflation, energy prices and policy uncertainty suggests companies have not broadly retrenched over concerns about the outlook. Commercial lending at major banks including JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo grew faster than consumer lending, making it a key signal of U.S. economic resilience.

Reuters on April 20 compiled first-quarter 2026 figures released by U.S. banks the previous week. As of March 31, JPMorgan’s commercial loans had risen about 18% from a year earlier to $872.7 billion, while non-credit-card consumer borrowing was broadly flat. Commercial loans at Wells Fargo increased 16.4%, compared with just 3.7% growth in consumer lending. At Bank of America, the two categories grew by more than 12% and 4%, respectively.