Global sales of corporate bonds fell 18 percent to $3.19 trillion in 2010, according to Bloomberg.

However, companies whose credit ratings are below investment grade went on a borrowing binge. Junk bond issuance surged by 74 percent, to $367 billion in 2010, according to Bloomberg.

Further consolidation in the mid-tier banking markets is inevitable, particularly as new regulatory requirements under Basel III, published recently by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision-forces more small players out of the payments services business. This will have far-reaching effects on US banking and will likely mean less liquidity available for corporates in the US.

The new rules are likely to increase the cost to institutions of providing low-value, high-volume payments--the bread and butter of the payments business-and are yet another issue that will force further consolidation in the mid-tier-and-smaller banking market in the US.

In a follow-on from my blog yesterday on small business confidence and economic recovery, today I will take a look at the impact on retirement planning of continued tough conditions and a lack of external funding for businesses.

Retirement planning has taken a back burner for many small business owners since the crisis started. With small business confidence dropping in December for the first time in three months and many still reporting a dearth of outside funding sources, many owners expect to see their savings dwindle further in the coming six months, rather than grow.

Private equity firms are the prowl for larger companies.

Armed with near-record dry powder, buyout specialists this year alone have completed 68 deals of at least $500 million, according to PitchBook. This is more than double the 26 deals exceeding $500 million in 2009, bringing the two-year total to 94.

As spending soared above even optimistic predictions this holiday season, small business owners are still far from optimistic about economic recovery as a whole, according to a survey by Discover Small Business Watch.

Discover's monthly index of small business confidence fell for the first time in three months in December, even as consumer spending soared. The index fell to 81.6 from 87.2 in November, a drop of 5.6 points.

The recently signed tax compromise bill-also unofficially known as Stimulus II-not only contains a two-year extension of the Bush tax cuts for everyone, including those who don't want it except for the politicians who obsessively pushed for it. It also included about 50 or so tax breaks for businesses.

I already detailed the bonus depreciation and R&D tax credit.

Here are more encouraging signs that the economic recovery continues to gain strength.

Credit quality continues to improve and some indicators stand at two-year highs.

According to Standard & Poor's, the US speculative-grade default rate fell to 3.35 percent in mid-December, down from a peak of 11.4 percent hit in November 2009. In the US, 53 issuers defaulted through November, compared with 185 at the same time in 2009.

Small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs) are cautiously optimistic heading into the new year.

Nearly one-third (30 percent) expect the economy to improve in 2011, according to a new survey. This is just slightly more than the 28 percent who expect it to get worse.

It is not looking like a happy holiday season for Visa and Mastercard, but their woes may be a positive thing for retailers in North America. New proposed rules for interchange fees in the US, and an "anti-competitiveness" investigation in Canada could change the landscape for retail businesses on both sides of the border.

The Federal Reserve Board has put forth two proposals for overhauling debit card interchange fees as part of the Dodd-Frank Act, which should vastly reduce the costs to merchants of processing card transactions for their customers.

Two new programs out from the Small Business Administration (SBA) promise easier loan access for US companies, which is good news for the many small firms that have struggled to get funding from banks over the past few years.

The first program is called Small Loan Advantage, and its main goal is to reduce the paperwork involved in getting loan approval and decrease the wait-time from application to money receipt.