This week’s heavy load of economic data releases from the U.S. (and, to a lesser extent, China and the euro area) comes at a particularly opportune moment. Views about the prospects for the U.S. economy are all over the map. There also is significant divergence in the assessments of the effects of a probable increase in interest rates this year by the Federal Reserve. And there is an even greater diversity of opinion about whether the U.S. will help pull the rest of the world out of the doldrums or, instead, be dragged down. Both domestic and global factors contribute to this exceptionally wide range of opinions; and ... (full story)