After several months of relentlessly grim economic news, analysts have been looking for any indication that the pace of the economy’s deterioration is slowing. Recently, they have had at least some reason to hope.
The latest encouraging signs came yesterday, with the government reporting that orders for machinery and equipment posted surprising gains last month and that more buyers, lured by low prices, returned to the housing market. Orders for durable goods were still relatively weak, and home sales were down 41 percent from a year earlier.
But analysts responded favorably nonetheless.
“We’re no longer in free fall,” said Patrick Newport, a U.S. economist for IHS Global Insight. “Things are getting worse a little bit at a time.”
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