It's hard to argue against Roubini these days since he's been much more right than wrong about this economy. There do appear to be some signs of life out there but it also seems tenuous and could turn quickly. We probably won't see any broad positive news out of the banks for quite a while and it's more likely that bad news will come first. More from Roubini and the AP:
"For people who say there are green shoots, I seen only yellow weeds frankly," Roubini said at a conference in Hong Kong. "It's not a true recovery. It's just a bear-market rally, it's a suckers rally."
That's because the U.S. economy won't grow again until 2010 after contracting by 2 percent this year, he said. Unemployment will hit 11 percent next year and corporate earnings will come in worse-than-expected, he predicted.
Troubles in the financial sector, meanwhile, are far from over and will be worse than many expect. The results of the government's "stress tests" will show even the biggest 19 American banks don't have enough capital to cope with the huge losses they'll inevitably suffer on souring loans.
