In another sign of growing confidence, manufacturers are trying to rebuild inventories and farm stockpiles also will catch up after the hit from last year’s drought, according to UBS. This will add about 0.6 percentage point to first-half economic growth, said Drew Matus, deputy U.S. chief economist at UBS in Stamford, Connecticut. While the economy faces some drags, “people are ignoring the positives,” he said.

“We’re holding up better than people thought,” said Matus, who is also a former Federal Reserve Bank of New York analyst. “Never count out the U.S. consumer. Households are doing what they do, which is to spend money.” He said that’s part of the reason why “the first half isn’t looking awful, and the second half should end better.”

First « 1 2 3 4 5 » Next