Where are the nervous and negative Nellies that are calling for the sky to fall? Oh, they're over of SH.

We're cashing in on CUU within the next few months, IMO.

I.M.F. Raises Global Forecast for Growth

The International Monetary Fund is more optimistic about the global economy after seeing faster growth in the United States and a coordinated effort in Europe to address its debt crisis, the group said Tuesday.

The global lending organization said in its latest economic report that the American economy should expand 2.1 percent this year. Europe is likely to shrink 0.3 percent and the world economy should grow 3.5 percent. All three of the I.M.F.'s estimates are slightly better than its January's forecasts.

The group praised European leaders for bulking up its bailout fund and taking other steps to address the crisis, but noted that the crisis continues to loom as the biggest threat to the global economy.

The group's World Economic report comes as the 187-nation I.M.F. and its sister lending institution, the World Bank, prepare to hold their spring meetings in Washington this week.

The report represents improvement from January, when I.M.F. officials warned that the global economic recovery was in danger of stalling.

Since then, European leaders have worked together on a plan intended to restrain deficit spending. New governments in Spain and Italy have committed to reforms and spending cuts. And the European Central Bank has lent more than $1 trillion to the region's banks. That has brought down borrowing costs in some of the most troubled countries.

In the United States, consumers are spending more, business investment has grown and the job market has shown "signs of life," the report says.

"Some optimism has returned," Olivier Blanchard, the I.M.F.'s chief economist, wrote. "It should remain tempered."

Mr. Blanchard said that the risk that Europe's debt crisis could worsen remains high. And even if it does not, growth in most advanced economies is likely to remain slow.

Governments are cutting spending and raising taxes in Europe, the United States and Japan, dragging on growth, the report said. And banks are also reducing their debts, particularly in Europe, which is reducing lending and slowing growth.

Still, the economic landscape has improved from only a few months ago. The I.M.F.'s managing director, Christine Lagarde, said last week that the better outlook meant that the I.M.F. might not need to seek as big an increase to its war chest. She had suggested in a speech in January that the international lending organization would need an additional $500 billion, on top of the roughly $385 billion it already has.

She didn't specify a figure last week but indicated that she hoped to resolve the issue at the meetings of the I.M.F. and World Bank that start Friday.