But again, this improvement is down to a few star performers.
Despite its relatively stable performance through the industry's ups and downs, the firm's shares have until recently traded at a lower multiple than those of its competitors (see chart).Part of the recent improvement is down to Mr Smurfit's new investor-relations staff, who have persuaded him that there is more to winning the markets' approval than simply showing a good set of accounts.
The ambassador said the improvement in relations was down to the fact that "political mutual trust has been very much enhanced".
Last week, the administrator of the F.A.A., Randy Babbitt, a former pilot at Eastern Airlines and later head of the Air Line Pilots Association, said that at the time of the crash, 14 airlines lacked a program for remedial training of pilots, but that by December, when the agency assembled a report on safety improvements, the number was down to eight.
All were improvements over recent trends the market was down about 40% for the first half of 2009.
The Hainan gibbon's current plight is an improvement on ten years ago, when the chorus was down to a dozen.
There were only three companies that did not appreciate in price over the week: Engineering and environmental service firm Tetra Tech, was down 4%; home improvement retailer Lowe s, down 1%; and property and casualty insurance provider Chubb, down less than 1%.
Natural gas production was down by 79percentt, a slight improvement over Wednesday, the Interior Department reported.
Engelhardt said the improvement was partly down to Admiral increasing car insurance rates before the rest of the market, having seen industry-wide rises coming.
He reckons the improvement is purely down to the players' better physical performance.
