Ratios of current profits to sales in fiscal 2004, for both manufacturing and non-manufacturing companies, are expected to reach their highest levels since the bursting of the bubble. Turning to the financial system, considerable progress has been made toward restoring the system to soundness.
Stock and Watson (2010) say that “there are some hints that the slope parameter might be smaller at low levels of inflation but these hints are not robustly confirmed by statistical tests”. Stella and Stock (2012) even find signs of a steepening of the Phillips curve for the United States.