The People’s Republic of China, whose economy has been mostly out of the news in recent months was suddenly back in the news on Monday, when the government lowered its GDP target to 7.5 percent from 8 percent.

With the coming of a new month, new jobs numbers will soon be published, with trends in hiring of high interest to anyone concerned with the direction of the economy (which is almost everyone).

Initial unemployment claims for the week ending Feb. 25 edged down 2,000 to 351,000, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

“The Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions by Federal Reserve District” was released on Wednesday, and posited the not-quite-hopeful notion that the U.S. economy is growing, but not growing that quickly.

The economy might be slowly turning in the right direction, but it’s going to take more positive momentum to goad U.S. housing values in an upward direction.

The National Association of Realtors reported on Monday that its Pending Home Sales Index was up 2 percent in January to 97, which happens to be the highest level for the index since April 2010.

Consumers continue to feel more upbeat about the economy than before, according to the latest Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Survey of Consumers, published on Friday.

The U.S. Department of Labor reported on Thursday that weekly unemployment claims didn’t budge for the week ending Feb. 18, standing pat at 351,000.