The Wall Street Journal / NBC News Poll --- A Special Weekly Report From The Wall Street Journal's Capital Bureau
FED AND BUSH OFFICIALS hold their breath for evidence of recovery.</br></br>Signs of life in manufacturing and home sales cheer economic officials, but this morning's unemployment report is crucial. Financial markets anticipate a slight increase in employment. Like government officials, voters have been turning cautiously optimistic, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows. By 39% to 23%, voters expect things to get better over the next year -- the highest level in a year.</br></br>"It's the second month in a row that there's been an uptick in the perception that things are getting better, and that's often a precursor of economic recovery," say pollsters Peter Hart and Vince Breglio, who conducted the survey. A new Chamber of Commerce survey of small and medium-sized firms finds sharply higher expectations for the economy but less confidence about their own enterprises.</br></br>"Business people are apprehensive that the good news they hear today may be the same false echo of recovery they heard last spring," says Chamber President Richard Lesher.</br></br>NO DEAL? Israel's loan-guarantee prospects look bleak this year.