Ans: It is better but still not there

This is a question everyone likes to ask us as our sister concern Yoganishta is into the placement business. I try to draw my own inferences from different data points - anecdotal and factual to sense the market. Here is my take for now.

Well, today is a good day to take stock. It is Wednesday, a day when the leading newspapers carry the Opportunities page i.e. the jobs page. The thickness of this pull out itself is a good starting point. After many many months the pull out is quite thick, some 10 pages. There were a few companies which have full page advertisements. This is very encouraging.The dream job industry - software - has started hiring. Still when I talk to my friends in companies the feeling I get is one of uncertaininity - unsure of how strong the grwoth prospects are.

So are we back to the good old days?

I read a commentary in the Economist yesterday on the state of the economy. There were no conclusions which itself is telling. But there were many factors which should make us jittery. Oil prices are up. Commodity prices are up again. Food prices in general are increasing. Reveues of companies are not increasing but profits are (which means they are not selling more but are managing their finances better). Dollar is weakening. All this means one thing - uncertaininity.
To me it looks like the sentiments are up but the reality does not match the sentiments. We will need to be cautious and also factor in the probability that some adverse effect or event somewhere could push back the fragile state back from the second gear to the first or even neutral gear.

Yes we have moved from first to the second gear. How soon before we move to the third? That is difficult to say as the road ahead is still misty.

Tempted to start swiping the card again? Hold on for a while.