Economic news improves ever so slightly

Recent economic news has been fast and furious, such that every time a post comes to mind it has been trumped by more news before I touch the keyboard. It is still an almost absolute certainty that the unemployment numbers will continue to rise, but it does seem like credit markets for the consumer are beginning to loosen up. When the banks received "bailout" money, they were criticized almost immediately for not putting the taxpayer's money to work.

It doesn't of course work that way. What took months to turn into a virtual consumer credit freeze also takes months to work its way back. Banks needed to rework so called "value propositons" that had obviously failed, consumers with acceptable credit scores needed to come out of hiding, and the whole process needed time. While there is still more pain in credit card portfolios, the dire period of October to February seems to be behind us. Nothing is robust, just no longer in free fall, which is good news for the market.