Rural Mainstreet Begins Year Weak: One-Third Indicate Loan Defaults Biggest Banking Threat

For a 17th straight month, the Rural Mainstreet Index remained below growth neutral. • Almost one-third of bank CEOs indicated that soaring loan defaults represented the greatest Rural Mainstreet banking threat for 2017. • Almost nine often bankersreported thatlow agriculture commodity represented the biggest threat to the rural economic for 2017. • Eighty percent of bankers expect the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in the first half of 2017. States with January Rural Mainstreet expansions: Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Dakota; States with January Rural Mainstreet contractions: Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota and Wyoming.