Wall Street spin turns bad news to good

Reuters reports:

alk to Wall Street analysts after a weak batch of economic news and, as often as not, they say to look on the bright side.

But some critics say this view should be taken with a grain of salt. After all, most big banks failed to spot the 2001 recession until growth had already turned negative.

"The last thing investment banks want to do is predict a recession, because it's bad for business," said Lakshman Achuthan, managing director at independent research group Economic Cycle Research Institute, or ECRI.

Life should be taken with a grain of salt.