GOOD DAY FOR: Light green shoots, after a survey of economists by the National Association for Business Economics found that the U.S. recession is easing, even if the recovery hasn’t yet started. Of the four major sectors in the survey, financial services was showing the healthiest signs of demand; the transportation, utilities, information, and communications sector was the weakest. This is the longest recession since the Great Depression and the deepest in three decades. (Reuters)

BAD DAY FOR: Higher ed, as almost a third of U.S. private colleges expect a drop in freshman enrollment in the 2009-2010 school year. Fourteen percent of the schools see their enrollment numbers declining by 5 percent or more. The National Association of Independent Colleges & Universities, which conducted the survey, blames the trend on recession-hit and debt-addled parents. (Bloomberg)