The American banking sector remains devastated by the credit crunch and the recession, with a record fall in lending and commercial real estate down. Yet there are emerging signs of an improvement.
Green shoots
Looking for organic growth among the green shoots
We have probably just had the best week of data on the global economy for a year, but we’re not out of the woods yet.
Markets slump as World Bank shades green shoots
The World Bank has announced that the world economy will perform worse than expected in March, a call that wreaked a lot of damage on markets overnight.
FedEx finds little reason to be cheerful
Fed Ex is a barometer of the US economy and the message it has been sending for much of the past nine months has been gloomy.
Green shoots in bloom: consumer confidence surges
Consumer confidence has joined business confidence on a strong upswing and is now at its highest level for 17 months.
Think you see green shoots? You’re wrong
Don’t believe the optimists, says Nouriel Roubini — the contraction of consumption will remain a drag on households for years.
Green shoots becoming noxious weeds
The “green shoots” theory of economic recovery took a series of of body blows overnight.
Corporate “green shoots” withering on the vine
Those small signs of a rebound people are talking about in other economies don’t seem to be flourishing all that strongly here.
Financial bubble about to burst, again
We are witnessing a bubble, semi-popped, providing its makers with a few final glimpses of joy, before vanishing completely.
Green shoot sprout south of the border
Businesses in Mexico are seeing signs of economic hope.
Bernanke: Normal service will resume shortly
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has predicted the US economy will be back on its feet by the end of the year, and people are finally starting to listen. But the massive amount of bad debt isn’t going anywhere, says TIME.
Wall St clueless as bad news rolls in
World markets inexplicably bounced last night on the apparent ‘good news’ that the US economy’s slide continued.
Hanging on for the “stress test” reality check
The strength of the current stockmarket rebound and the health of all those ‘green shoots’ analysts will be tested tonight.
Political snippets: Sceptically looking for the green shoots
Richard Farmer sees no “glimmers of hope” for the economy and reflects on hard-drinking politicians.
