PRESIDENT Barack Obama said last week that he detected bright “signs of economic progress”, although warning there was “much more work to be done” before America would emerge from the darkness of the downturn. He did not use the term “green shoots” but said: “Times are still tough but, from where we stand, for the very first time we are beginning to see glimmers of hope.”

- In Britain, the hopeful signs included sales of property starting to move and homebuyer enquiries rising for the fifth consecutive month in March, and at the fastest pace since September 2003, accoding to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). Figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) showed a 4% increase in mortgages approved in January and February, yet the total of 24,300 was 47% below the same period last year and about a third lower than the February average.

- Chinese manufacturers reported orders recovering from the winter’s plunge, but demand in Europe and America remained weak. Exporters at the Canton trade fair revealed a slight increase in orders despite the growth rate in China’s economy slowing to 6.1% in the first quarter.

- A top UK fund manager, Crispin Odey, founder of Odey Asset Management, said the modest recovery in world stock markets may mark the start of a bull market for equities. He has bought heavily into banking stocks. David Miles, the newest member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, spoke of guarded optimism on the economy. Moves to cut interest rates, increase public spending and boost money supply were taking effect. “It may well be that the worst of the recession is behind us,” he said.

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