Euro zone business lending picked up in Nov

FRANKFURT - Lending to euro zone companies accelerated for the third straight month in November, reversing in part a steady decline in the early part of the year, European Central Bank data showed on Wednesday.

Lending to euro zone businesses expanded by 2.9% last month, a pick-up from 2.5% in October but well below the 7% recorded a year earlier. Household lending growth rose to 4.2% from 4.1%, holding broadly steady over the past six months.

The annual growth rate of the M3 measure of money supply, mostly a reflection of the ECB's copious bond purchases, dropped to 7.3% from 7.7%, below market expectations for 7.6% growth.