In the speech 'Update on the Economy and Monetary Policy' given on 25 July Alfred Broaddus of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond said to sum up on the current state of the economy, there are a few signs in the recently released data that the recovery may be gaining strength. But in my view there is not much hard evidence that this is happening yet - certainly no compelling evidence of the pronounced post-Iraq-war boost to activity that many people, myself included, had anticipated.

To read past