V-Shape?

Econbrowser, as usual, has a very intersting post on inventory restocking. He doubts however that this will be sufficient to witness a strong recovery as "the question is whether our financial system is willing and able to extend the credit that would fuel the recovery. "

Green Shoots?

Great charts from CalculatedRisk first on retail sales flattish MoM in April after the nice jump in Q1 from the dismal December level:


An then on the inventory to sales ratio. In spite of the large reported drop in inventories in Q1 the inventory to sales ratio remain very elevated indicating further reductions may still be on the way:

Expect a slow and long recovery.