US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greeenspan today sounded a cautiously optimistic note on the economy, saying that recent data had not dented his belief in an upturn as the year progressed. Speaking to the joint economic committees of Congress, Greenspan said that the consensus expectation for a pickup in economic activity was not unreasonable.
However, he also repeated his old mantra that the timing and extent of any improvement remained uncertain. Greenspan noted that April non-farm payroll and factory output data were disappointing, but said the decline was the result of decisions made before the start of the Iraq War. He also said "many more weeks of data will be needed to confidently discern the underlying trends in this area." //www.fxcentre.com