“There is no doubt that it is good news,” said Andre Mayer, the senior vice president for communications and research at Associated Industries. “It is perhaps not absolute good news. It’s not a good economy to be doing business in for most companies. We are still some distance away from getting back to real growth.”

Mayer said that under the current rate of improvement, the index won’t hit that 50-point neutral mark until the middle of 2010.

“We are ending the year on a better tone. I think that we are all pleased by that and relived by that,” said Frederick S. Breimyer, an economist and board member of the New England Economic Partnership. “That’s not to say we are where we want to be. But progress is progress.”

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Posted 1/6/10