Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) — Confidence among U.S. small businesses increased in January for the first time in three months as the outlook for sales improved, according to the National Federation of Independent Business optimism index. See more here: U.S. Small-Business Index Rises for First Time in Three Months (Bloomberg)

NEW YORK — Getting your tax refund quickly using a rapid-refund loan has gotten harder for the second straight year. That may frustrate the customers who are turned down for these expensive short-term loans. But consumer advocates say it’s good news. Read more: Taxpayer alert: Rapid-refund loans harder to get (Poughkeepsie Journal)

What makes sense too often doesn’t get done in Washington. Take the issue of federally-backed student loans for college. Continued here: Remove middle man from college loans (Miami Herald)

The federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett has announced an audit into the Government’s green loans program,but the Greens say it does not go far enough. Continue reading here: Green loans audit ‘not enough’ (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

India’s car sales rose more than 32 percent year on year in January as demand was boosted by cheap loans and an economic recovery, an industry group said Tuesday. See the original post: Cheap loans boost India car sales in January (AFP via Yahoo! News)

Hello, Hollywood. On the heels of the Foursquare-Bravo TV deal , news of several additional major media partnerships involving the location-based social networking app have dropped this evening. According to various reports, Zagat, Warner Bros., HBO, the History Channel and ExploreChicago have all been added to Foursquare’s media and entertainment mix. Here are the partnerships that appear to be...