There is still a lot of uncertainty overhanging the outlook for the US economy. Domestically, we have also had some developments indicating greater confidence in the outlook.
The stock market has risen by 7 per cent since late March and is again close to record levels, bond yields have risen, and we have also had the recovery in the exchange rate I referred to earlier. Here, as in the United States, greater confidence returned to financial markets, even if wider measures of business confidence have not shown it.