Peter MacMahon: Cold hard numbers say it is too soon for green shoots

IT WILL not come as much consolation to you if you work at a soon-to-close Diageo plant or for a threatened shipbuilding company, but there were further signs yesterday that things are looking up.

Two pieces of research have added to the expectation that the worst of the recession might – just might – be over and that Lord Mandelson's "green seedlings" may be about to sprout.

First we have the famous PMI research into the state of manufac...