星期五，美国经济的几个关健指标令人喜忧参半。美国商务部说，建筑商三月份新住房开工率比二月份提高1.6%。如果维持这一建筑速度，那么一年内将有62万6千所住房破土动工。这将比去年同期新住房数量增加20%。
经济学家密切关注住房，因为住房的严重问题在经济危机中扮演了重要角色。尽管新房开工数量增加，通用电气集团说，它今年前三个月的利润减少了大约三分之一。
通用电气的业务从机车到贷款涉猎范围广泛。因此专家将通用电气作为衡量整体经济的一个标尺。通用电气因其财政部门的问题受到拖累，但是那些损失似乎趋于缓和。
美国最大借贷银行美国银行今年前三个月获利28亿美元。美国银行说，交易运作盈利抵消了消费贷款业务中不断出现的亏损。
Some key indicators paint a mixed picture of the U.S. economy on Friday.The Commerce Department says builders broke ground on 1.6 percent more homes in March than the prior month. If construction continued at that pace for a full year, 626,000 homes would go up. That would be a 20 percent improvement over the same period a year ago.
Economists watch housing closely because severe problems in this sector played a key role in the economic crisis.While housing made gains, the huge conglomerate GE says its profits fell about one-third in the first three months of this year.
GE makes everything from locomotives to loans, so experts see it as a gauge of the overall economy. The company was hurt by problems in its financial division, but those losses appear to be moderating.
The biggest U.S. lender, Bank of America, posted a $2.8 billion profit in the first three months of this year. The bank says earnings from its trading operations offset continuing losses from consumer loans.