Economic Recovery, Good News | featured news

Central bankers from around the world are starting to focus on how to unwind the policies they used to fight the global financial crisis.

Ben S. Bernanke offered his most hopeful assessment of the economic situation in more than a year.

The United States economy is out of the emergency room and appears to be on a slow path to recovery, Warren Buffett wrote in an opinion column in the New York Times.

The global economic recovery has begun but sustaining it will require refocusing the United States toward exports and Asia toward imports, the International Monetary Fund's chief economist said.

The government says the number of newly-laid off workers seeking unemployment insurance fell last week, fresh evidence that layoffs are easing.

A White House spokesman said Wednesday that the United States has avoided falling off an economic cliff, citing as evidence a new report showing factory orders rose in June for the fourth time in five months, an unexpected gain and the latest sign that the ailing manufacturing sector is recovering.

U.S. consumers spent more in June and pending sales of previously owned homes also rose, data issued on Tuesday showed, but the biggest drop in incomes in four-and-a-half years pointed to a slow recovery from the worst recession in decades.

New U.S. housing starts and permits surged in May from record lows, while producer prices rose at a slower pace despite higher gasoline prices, boosting prospects for the economy's recovery from recession.

Some risks remain, but the economy looks set for a fourth-quarter recovery.

The number of newly laid-off Americans filing jobless claims fell more than expected last week and retail sales grew in May for the first time in three months, fresh evidence that the worst of the recession may have past.