Weak as it is, this economic uptick may be for real

I’ve had my doubts about whether the economic uptick, however slight it might be, was even real. But those doubts are gradually diminishing. Retail sales were up slightly last month, and today comes news that initial unemployment claims fell by 20,000 last week. (See chart below of four-week average of initial claims). As of 10:30 a.m., the Dow was up about 140 points on the news. As the folks at...