In a recent survey by the National Association of Business Economics, 70% of economists said they believe the U.S. economy will grow by more than 2%. Just three months ago, only 61% of surveyed economists had such bullish expectations.   

And it gets better. 24% of surveyed economists believe 3% growth is coming, up from just 14% January.   

The details of the survey also show that employment is improving in the hardest-hit sectors: real estate, finance and manufacturing. And salaries are also on the rise.   

There are some investors who think the significance of aluminum company Alcoa’s earnings is overblown. There are stocks that provide a better measure of consumer spending habits, or otherwise give more insight into the economy’s health.  

But because Alcoa is always the first major company to report, it’s numbers are still treated like an omen for the 499 companies on the S&P 500.  

So, if you ignore one-time charges, Alcoa (NYSE:AA) reported $0.10 a share 1^st Quarter profit yesterday afternoon. I would swear I read on Yahoo! Finance that analysts were expecting $0.11 a share. That would mean Alcoa missed estimates.