Reply #38: Global Economic Outlook Improved in April, Led by U.S., Asia

[TalkingDog]

Bloomberg's survey of Bloomberg users says: Yay! You kissed the boo-boo, put a band-aid onnit and it went away!!!

Are these people psychotic?

snip:
Confidence in the global economy improved for the first time in five months in April after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates to avert a recession, a survey of Bloomberg users on five continents showed.

The Bloomberg Professional Global Confidence Index rose to 14.5 from 13.1 in March. The measure increased to 18.5 from 17.6 in the U.S. and to 11 from 7.5 in Asia. It declined in Western Europe. A reading below 50 indicates negative sentiment.

The Fed lowered its key rate by 2 percentage points this year, the fastest pace of cuts in two decades, after a slump in the housing market pushed up credit costs worldwide. At the same time, China's economy, the biggest contributor to world growth, expanded more than 10 percent for a ninth straight quarter, a government report showed today. While the European Central Bank has pumped money into the banking system, it has resisted lowering rates because of accelerating inflation.

``The U.S. is further through this cycle and looking at mild acceleration in the second half,'' said Aurelio Maccario, an economist at Unicredit MIB in Milan, who took part in the survey. In Europe, ``there is worse to come.''