Loan demand from small businesses is at its highest level since 2005, according to a new Fed survey out today. Overall, banks classified loan demand as “somewhat stronger.”

While lack of lending is still seen as an impediment to small business growth, small businesses are pushing for funds. The Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices noted that among domestic banks, 15 percent reported an increase in requests for loans from small firms.

Domestic banks also reported an increase in the number of inquiries from businesses for new or increased lines of credit.

 » Read More

After ringing the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange today, AOL founder and Startup America chairman Steve Case spoke with Squawk on the Street about how the government can make it easier for entrepreneurs to create successful companies.

Surrounded by young entrepreneurs from several startups — including the 13-year-old CEO of Hiccup Pops — Case talked about how important it is for the White House and Congress to work together to reduce regulations so that it's easier for new companies to go public, make it easier to raise start-up capital through crowdfunding, and create an immigration policy that ensures the U.S. "is a magnet for talent."

 » Read More

People use all sorts of ways to try to predict the winner of the Super Bowl: comparing regular season records, judging who looked stronger in the post-season run-up to the big game, or watching the betting lines from Las Vegas oddsmakers. But the closest thing to a sure thing may come from a camel in New Jersey.

Source: ahscares.org Princess, a Bactrian camel picks the Super Bowl winner.

Princess, the star of New Jersey's Popcorn Park Zoo, has correctly picked the winner of five of the last six Super Bowls. She went 14 and 6 predicting regular season and playoff games this year, and has a lifetime record of 88-51. Her pick this year: The New York Giants.

The Bactrian camel's prognostication skills flow from her love of graham crackers. Zoo general manager John Bergmann places a cracker and writes the name of the competing teams on each hand. Whichever hand Princess nibbles from is her pick.

On Wednesday, she made her pick with no hesitation at all, predicting bad news for Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, even though the Las Vegas oddsmakers have New England favored by about 3 points.

 » Read More

dougiedog.com This is what a $100 hot dog looks like.

  In honor of the Year of the Dragon, a Vancouver hot dog vendor going by the handle Dougie Luv created the Dragon Dog. The price: $100.

What does the hot dog adventurer get in exchange for their $100? (That's Canadian dollars, which is roughly equivalent to U.S. dollars, but it helps to be little exotic when you're spending a lot of money.) The Dragon Dog consists of a pork bratwurst infused with Rémy Martin Louis XIII Cognac, which contains elements up to a century old and sells for anywhere from $1,900 to $2,500. Why? “Cognac and pork go hand in hand,” says Dougie Luv.

The bratwurst is sautéed in olive and truffle oil, placed on a sourdough sweetbread bun, and topped with Kobe beef, fresh lobster, tomatoes, truffles, aoli and a hot sauce that is “just a little spicy.”

 » Read More

Getty Images Singer Lady Gaga, taking a break from the kitchen.

Despite being one of the biggest musical stars of the moment Lady Gaga isn't afraid to get her hands dirty and has been helping out at her dad's new Italian restaurant.

The Bad Romance star recently helped her dad, Joe Germanotta, set up the eatery — Joanne Trattoria — in New York.

Speaking to The Sun, a source said: "It's a real family effort. They've all been getting stuck in."

 » Read More

Photo: Willis and Walker Former NBA player Kevin Willis, whose Willis & Walker fashion line will debut in major retailers this spring.

It isn’t easy to look cool when you’re outgrowing your pants every month. For then 16-year-old Kevin Willis, it was tough to impress the girls when his pants were above his ankles.

At 16, the future NBA standout was 6 feet 8 inches, and still growing. While that was an advantage on the basketball court, it didn’t win him any points in the “most fashionable” department.

“I was getting attention on the basketball court, girls were interested in me. I needed to look stylish,” he says, laughing.

Willis, now 49 and retired from basketball since the end of the 2007 season, is sitting in a fashion showroom in midtown Manhattan, surrounded by suits and separates for his Willis & Walker clothing line — a line he started 24 years ago when he was playing forward for the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA.

 » Read More

Getty Images The social network game development, like that developed by Zynga, is one of the hot sectors for new business, according to Ibis World research.

The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well, despite the economic stresses that make it difficult to start a business.

In 2010, 0.34 percent of American adults created a business per month, representing the highest level in the past 15 years, according to the Kauffman Foundation.

As the economy continues to recover, job growth, normalizing credit conditions, and consumer spending will translate into “more money in the pockets of consumers and various opportunities for new businesses,” says Brian Bueno, an economic research analyst at Ibis World, an industry research publisher.

 » Read More

Getty Images California Governor Jerry Brown in September gave Internet retailers a one-year reprieve on sales tax collection.

On a dreary day last April, Tim Storm, the founder of FatWallet, and his 54 employees formed a convoy of some 30 cars, three moving trucks and a trailer laden with two fiberglass cows (one purple, one black), and drove five miles north from their old corporate home in Rockton, Ill.. to the new FatWallet headquarters in Beloit, Wis.

The move certainly seemed to be an odd business decision: it cost $100,000, and the company left behind a $5 million, three-year-old, custom-built office building in Rockton, whose maintenance would continue to cost $30,000 a month until it finds a tenant. But Mr. Storm felt he had to do it for his business to survive.

 » Read More