By: Apparently, our respondents, keeping their ears to the ground, have heard the good news about the recovery. This month's Confidence Meter numbers for the overall economy jumped almost a whole point over last month's, reaching an all-time high of 6.4. Meanwhile, the numbers for their own industries rose from 5.8 to 6.3, and those for their own companies moved from 6.5 to 6.8. Nonprofits and trade associations remained the most optimistic industry category, at 7.1 for the economy, 6.9 for their own sector and 7.3 for their own organizations, while the award for most bearish goes to the Engineering/Construction/Architecture sector, at just 5.5 for the economy as a whole, the same as last month's score.
