Strong profit figures from a number of the world’s largest container shippers are the latest indicators that global trade is indeed on the increase.

Three of the biggest shipping container lines have each reported stronger-than-expected results in their latest reporting periods, sending a big signal that world trade is on the rise—as we discussed here. Shipping containers carry around 90 percent of global merchandise trade goods.

This piece published today by Project Syndicate is as insightful a critique as I've seen of the consensus that has emerged among policymakers that government deficits must be cut to restore economic growth.

Not that we haven't taken a stab at that ourselves.

Paul Krugman today once again bemoans the lack of Keynesianism in what passes for economic policymaking discussions these days, and I share that complaint.

However, Krugman may be missing part of the problem here, which is that those who pooh-pooh the prospect of deflation may actually not much care if it materializes, though they would be mistaken to do so.

In the midst of a slowdown of the US economic recovery and the possibility of a double-dip recession in Europe, US mid-sized businesses are remaining cautious about borrowing. But they are also relying less on cost cutting for growth, opting instead for international expansion, which could in turn boost the US economy.

According to a survey of nearly 650 US senior financial executives polled by HSBC's commercial banking division, US mid-sized businesses continue to express some caution, which is evident in their reluctance to take on new debt. "A surprising 60 percent of respondents stated that they have not applied for an increase in their credit line or for a new credit line in the past 12 months," HSBC said in a press release Monday.

At long last, one writer has seriously addressed the potential problems with more stimulus spending. (I sent Paul Krugman a question about this more than a week ago, via a comment on his blog, but from what I can see he has yet to address it. And Dean Baker too easily dismisses the issue, in my opinion.)

The problem is not the federal budget deficit, not at least in the short term, but the potential political fallout from bad decision making. That way, says Steve Randy Waldman, indeed lay a possible US currency crisis. And this is ultimately where Friedrich Hayek and his associates were coming from in blaming Weimar for the disasters that followed.

Corporate banking professionals are less pessimistic about Greece's financial condition than investors are, according to surveys by Bloomberg and by our editorial partner, the Benche, a website sponsored by the Swedish bank, SEB.

According to the Benche, half of its registered members, who work primarily in corporate banking, say Greece will fail to make timely payments of interest and principal on its debt.

It's really hard to see the glass half full on the economy with news like this.

A 35 percent decline in mortgage applications during the past month hardly suggests that the consumer is back. In fact, whatever strength home sales have shown of late has stemmed from the first-time buyers' tax credit. The downturn in applications coincides with the credit's expiration, showing that the economy remains on life support.

China has increased its appetite for foreign companies.

Outbound acquisitions by Chinese companies have swelled five times to $28.4 billion so far this year (as of May 24) compared with $5.8 billion during the same period last year, according to Thomson Reuters.

As a follow-up to yesterday's rant, I see that investors are applauding the moves of European governments to reduce their budget deficits, as if the answer to deflation is more deflation.

Hasn't anyone ever heard of Keynes and the false dawn of 1937?

In the wake of an announcement this week by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that it is opening a new investigation into the timeliness of disclosure of steering defects in some US models, carmaker Toyota  has announced a somewhat surprising return to profitability for the year ending in March – beating its own forecasts from February.

The carmaker saw net profits rise to Y209.5 billion ($2.3 billion) in fiscal 2009 – up from a net loss of Y436.9 billion the previous year. In its February forecast, the firm estimated profits of Y80 billion.