A few positive indicators

In my never-ending quest to counter what seems to be the never-ending pessimism that I hear around me, I want to point out some of the good things I came across this week.

First, we have this item, confirming previous similar surveys of economists I've read:

A group of financial wizards looked into their crystal ball Tuesday and saw some good news.

The recession will ease by the end of this year and companies will begin adding workers, signaling the end of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

We'd all rather that the recession ends tomorrow, of course, but year-end doesn't seem all that far away.

And then there's this, indicating that consumer confidence, while low, is trending upward.

For the past two weeks, the percentage of respondents in The Gallup Poll who say the economy is getting better has been steadily ticking up. Monday through Wednesday, 29% took the optimistic view — the highest number since July 2007.

And finally, more specific to our business, we see Wall Street rallying on good news from consumer products companies and retailers:

Better-than-expected earnings from big consumer brands Best Buy, ConAgra Foods and Dr Pepper Snapple Group sent the Dow Jones industrial average up more than 174 points Thursday to its highest level in six weeks. It has surged 21 percent since hitting a nearly 12-year low on March 9.

Put it all together and we get ... nothing definite, but perhaps some reason for cautious optimism.