Looking at respective major countries and regions, the U.S. economy has continued to recover moderately. A downtrend was observed in some economic indicators around the turn of the year, but this likely is largely attributable to temporary factors such as winter snowstorms.
As for the outlook, the pace of economic recovery is expected to gradually rise, led by domestic demand in particular, mainly as the fiscal drag continues to fade and because accommodative financial conditions are projected to be maintained. The European economy has been picking up after it emerged from a recession in 2013.