Senior military officials remain upbeat, expressing confidence in the progress of the Pentagon's war plan.
In general, the participants emerged upbeat, expressing confidence that the fixes they envisioned would meet the president's criteria for a "balanced approach" to resolving the coming onslaught of tax increases and spending cuts.
As recently as four weeks ago, when the insurance rating agency A. M. Best cut Conseco's rating to B++, a level that makes it difficult to sell some types of insurance, Mr. Wendt was still upbeat, expressing confidence that Conseco would soon win back a higher rating.
Additionally, investor confidence was upbeat after Alcoa, the aluminum producer, posted earnings that beat Wall Street's estimates.
The tomes in airport bookstores' business sections warn against "negativity" and advise the reader to be at all times upbeat, optimistic, brimming with confidence.
Profit at Citigroup and an upbeat turn in consumer confidence numbers bolstered investors' hopes that the worst economic declines were behind, and that the recent stock-market rally had some staying power.
Stocks opened higher after a rise in the European markets, which were buoyed by an upbeat report on German business confidence.
The central bank's own quarterly Tankan survey of business sentiment, released on December 15th, confirmed that corporate Japan remains upbeat about future profits, with confidence spreading from large manufacturers to smaller firms.
Americans seem to be in a holding pattern when it comes to consumer confidence, feeling generally upbeat about the state of the economy, but warily so, according to a virtually unchanged index from the Conference Board.
