Next, I will examine those issues – although most are judgments made prior to the earthquake – starting with overseas economies. B. Overseas economies  Let me first talk about the U.S. economy. The economy has continued to recover, coupled with additional stimulus measures both from the financial and fiscal sides.
Business sentiment has improved among manufacturing and nonmanufacturing firms, and stock prices have been improving as a trend supported also by the good performance of global businesses. In this situation, business fixed investment has been on a recovery trend, albeit a moderate one, and private consumption has been recovering, exceeding the level before the Lehman crisis.