Small business lending picked up in June

NEW YORK — Lending to small businesses is recovering after a four-month decline.

A study released Friday by PayNet, a research firm that tracks loans to small business, shows that lending rose 12 percent in May from April’s levels. That’s the largest increase since June 2009, when the economy was pulling out of the recession.

The Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index rose to 108.4 in May from April’s 96.6. That takes it close to the 110.5 the index registered in December, before it began its four-month slide.

William Phelan, president of PayNet, says the increase shows that small business owners are feeling more confident. But he said, they’re still uneasy about the economy and are unlikely to “indiscriminately throw caution to the wind and start investing wildly” in new equipment and employees.