Mr. Burge also took the last two weeks as an optimistic sign.

But he said the latest results were "a very optimistic sign for the economy."

Based on bits and pieces of information we're getting, there appears to be at least some cautiously optimistic signs.

Fund officials saw the trend as an optimistic sign - until the momentum diminished over the last few days.

The captain appears a man accustomed to good living, an optimistic sign.

His arrival seemed an optimistic sign that the owners and players might avoid the first strike in the league's 75-year history.

"There are no huge optimistic signs that I'm seeing," he said.

But those optimistic signs for the economy contrasted with other economic news yesterday.

Sagittarius is by nature an optimistic sign and you know that new opportunities will always arise.

But while there are optimistic signs, he added, "there's no question that the new economics creates a problem."