Could it be? A few chinks of light over the past week have many claiming to see the light at the end of the tunnel for the US economy. Yesterday's February housing starts data, for example, were blinding, up by 22 per cent versus January, the biggest jump in almost 20 years. Core retail sales (which exclude autos, fuel and food) rose in January and February, following five consecutive month-on-month declines. Elsewhere, the expectations component of the latest University of Michigan consumer sentiment index suggested that potential shoppers were ever so slightly less gloomy.
这可能吗?过去一周出现的若干亮点令许多人声称看到了美国manbetx20客户端下载 复苏的曙光。例如,周二公布的2月新屋开工数就极为炫目——较1月上升22%,创下近20年来最大升幅。剔除汽车、燃料和食品的核心零售额连续5个月环比下降后,在1月和2月都出现了上升。此外,最新的密歇根大学消费者信心指数中的预期成分表明,潜在的购物者还真不那么悲观。