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.
這可能嗎？過去一周出現(xiàn)的若干亮點令許多人聲稱看到了美國經(jīng)濟復蘇的曙光。例如，周二公布的2月新屋開工數(shù)就極為炫目——較1月上升22%，創(chuàng)下近20年來最大升幅。剔除汽車、燃料和食品的核心零售額連續(xù)5個月環(huán)比下降后，在1月和2月都出現(xiàn)了上升。此外，最新的密歇根大學消費者信心指數(shù)中的預期成分表明，潛在的購物者還真不那么悲觀。