, Columnist
Have We Really Escaped a Recession? Google It.
Pessimism about a recession has evaporated after reaching a peak — just like it did before the financial crisis.
Animal spirits may not be the best guide to whether the balloon’s going up.
Photographer: Fox Photos/Getty Images
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There is nothing like animal spirits to drive markets. Keynes diagnosed them long ago, and they have a huge impact on trading. Thus, the brief but severe recession fear of midsummer has allowed last week’s much more positive data on U.S. employment to feel more like an exit from a recession that has happened, rather than a reduction in perceived risk of one.