Finally, we begin a week with something that's been missing from our lives for a very long time.
Economic momentum, which is emanating from Wall Street and Pennsylvania Avenue.
Maybe this will trickle down to Main Street.
"We're starting to see glimmers of hope across the economy," President Barack Obama told reporters Friday after a White House meeting with his economic team, including Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and top economic adviser Larry Summers. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke also took part.
Their optimism undoubtedly springs from Wells Fargo's stunning announcement on Thursday that it expects a record $3 billion first-quarter profit, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average concluded its fifth consecutive weekly winning streak.
There are some other signs, too.
The Conference Board, known for tracking consumer confidence, also monitors the confidence of the nation's chief executive officers.
In the 2008 fourth quarter, the measure sank to a record low of 24. But in the first quarter of this year it rebounded to 30.
That's good, but not great news, since it takes a reading of more than 50 points to reflect more positive than negative responses.
"CEOs remain pessimistic about current conditions, but have grown more optimistic about the short-term outlook," Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center, said in an e-mail.
"This improved outlook, however, does not extend to the labor market."
The majority of chief executives still expect employment levels to decline further in the coming months, she said.
And the nation's executives are still quite pessimistic about current economic conditions, saying they had not improved compared to six months ago.
But looking forward, their outlook improved.
Now, 17 percent expect economic conditions to improve in the next six months, up from approximately 11 percent in the prior quarter.
Expectations for their own industries were also less pessimistic, with more than 26 percent of CEOs anticipating an improvement in the months ahead, more than double the last quarter of 2008.
The survey also said that less than 3 percent of CEOs anticipate an increase in employment levels in their industry, down from about 26 percent a year ago.
The survey was taken between mid-February and mid-March, so last week's good news was not factored in.
GM explains
In last week's column, I reported that General Motors Corp. did not sell any Pontiac GTOs or Saturn Ions in March, according to the company's March statistical report.
Dave Barthmuss, GM's western region group manager for environment and energy communications, sent an e-mail explaining why.
GM doesn't make those models anymore.
greg.wilcox@dailynews.com 818-713-3743
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