Strong economic data from the US and Europe

The run of negative US data appears to have been broken recently. Reuters reports the US data released yesterday.

Personal income rose 0.6 percent in February, below the unrevised 1.0 percent gain for January but double the 0.3 percent increase forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll.

February consumer spending also rose 0.6 percent, outpacing forecasts for a 0.3 percent gain after an unrevised 0.5 percent increase in January, according to Commerce Department data...

The National Association of Purchasing Management-Chicago, a barometer of Midwest manufacturing, jumped to 61.7 in March from 47.9 in February, its highest level since early 2005. The index showed new orders soared...

Consumer confidence data, however, showed Americans had some concerns with the economy.

The Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers' final March sentiment index fell to its lowest in six months as worries about rising prices and slowing income gains weighed. The index slid to 88.4, its lowest since September, from 91.3 in February...

Core consumer prices, which exclude volatile energy and food costs, rose 0.3 percent in February, outpacing forecasts for a 0.2 percent rise, following a downwardly revised 0.2 percent gain in January.

The core prices were up 2.4 percent compared with a year earlier after a downwardly revised 2.2 percent gain in January...

U.S. construction spending in February rose 0.3 percent, its biggest jump since a 1.0 percent gain in March 2006, even as private residential spending staged its 11th straight monthly drop, the Commerce Department said. The total spending of $1.171 trillion was driven higher by nonresidential building, made up of commercial construction and local government building.

The economic data from Europe had been strong for some time. That did not change yesterday, going by Bloomberg's report.

An index of sentiment among executives and consumers in the euro area increased to 111.2 in March, the highest since early 2001, from 109.7 in February, the European Commission in Brussels said today. Economists expected the index to fall to 109.5, according to a Bloomberg News survey of economists. The jobless rate fell to 7.3 percent in February and inflation accelerated to 1.9 percent in March, separate reports showed.

Meanwhile, retail sales rebounded in Germany in February.

Sales, adjusted for inflation and seasonal swings, gained 0.9 percent from January, when they slumped 4.3 percent, the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden said today. Economists had forecast a 0.9 percent increase, the median of 18 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey showed. From a year earlier, sales fell 1.6 percent.

And consumer confidence in Britain held steady in March.

The GfK NOP consumer confidence barometer remained at -8 this month, the same level as in February and as predicted by analysts.