Green shoots or rose-tinted glasses?

The financial press is abuzz with proclamations of an end to the economic winter, the sighting of gr...

The financial press is abuzz with proclamations of an end to the economic winter, the sighting of green shoots and that spring is nigh. Other judgements are a little bit more constrained, content just to see light at the end of the tunnel and a period of stabilisation ahead. These observations could well turn out to be accurate, but the evidence is flimsy and previous sightings of green shoots have proven false. So, what are the grounds for this burst of optimism? Survey evidence has clearly taken a turn for the better. Both at the individual and at the corporate level, sentiment has impr...