Despite a deepening job slump and few signs that the recession that began in December 2007 is nearing an end, Americans have grown more optimistic about the U.S. economy and the country's direction in the 11 weeks since the inauguration of President Obama, the latest New York Times/CBS News poll shows.

Further, Americans approve of President Obama's handling of the economy, foreign policy, (wars in Iraq and Afghanistan), and two-thirds said they approved of his overall job performance.

Was the optimism observed in last week's preview post rewarded? Well, as it turned out there were few negative surprises from the companies listed there, really just Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) and narrow misses from Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT).

Again this week, in a list of earnings expectations for some prominent companies in a variety of sectors, we see an apparent optimism. That is, analysts are anticipating more earnings growth than earnings declines.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expect the following companies to report a rise in earnings when compared to the same period of the previous year.

• Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM): $0.48 EPS (50.0%) on sales of $1.5 billion (+15.7%)
• Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN): $0.26 EPS (26.9%) on sales of $4.0 billion (+37.1%)
• Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT): $1.54 EPS (19.5%) on sales of $12.7 billion (+11.7%)
• McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD): $0.86 EPS (17.4%) on sales of $5.9 billion (-1.5%)
• ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP): $3.41 EPS (15.0%) on sales of $198.6 billion (+319.3%)
• Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL): $1.08 EPS (14.8%) on sales of $7.4 billion (+36.0%)
• Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL): $0.68 EPS (11.8%) on sales of $4.3 billion (+13.7%)
• Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN): $0.46 EPS (8.7%) on sales of $3.4 billion (-1.1%)
• Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO): $0.12 EPS (8.3%) on sales of $1.4 billion (+10.5%)
• AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T): $0.76 EPS (7.9%) on sales of $31.2 billion (+5.7%)
• PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP): $1.02 EPS (7.8%) on sales of $10.5 billion (+9.4%)
• Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc. (NYSE: BUD): $0.93 EPS (6.5%) on sales of $4.7 billion (+4.2%)
• Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE): $0.54 EPS (22.2%) on sales of $11.5 billion (+3.5%)
• 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM): $1.35 EPS (8.9%) on sales of $6.7 billion (+9.0%)
• Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK): $0.83 EPS (1.2%) on sales of $6.0 billion (-1.2%)

There is a very interesting article in today's Seattle Times. With stock investors getting more jittery with each passing day, it's important to put the recent market turmoil in some kind of historical perspective.

"Recessions on average last 216 days, or just over seven months, and stocks post an average 8.64 percent decline during the first half of the pullback, according to Citigroup data dating back to 1953."

It's important to keep in mind that the markets topped in late October, which means that we are about half way through the current economic softening. We are also much farther down than the average 8.64% decline, as we are almost double that in term of broad market losses.

So why be optimistic?

I live on the West Coast, so I wake up to news of the early trends in the market. This morning seemed a bit glum, the kind of day that (if my mood was made entirely of markets) I might have just rolled back over.

Good thing I got up. By the end of the day, the DJIA had surged 187 points to 13,482.35, its biggest one-day gain since the summer of 2006 (ahh, the summer of 06!). The 10-year treasury rate had a lot to do with it -- falling to under 5.2% after a surge to 5.3% in the early hours.

Best of all, according to a quote from Alan Gayle, senior investment strategist at Trusco Capital Management: "the consumer is holding up." Maybe that doesn't seem like a convincing reason to send stocks soaring (I'd love to see "filled with optimism" or "doing better than ever" or even "rolling in unspent greenbacks." That would be nice), but it was enough, and all the photos of traders would make good illustrations for The Wall Street Book of Smiles.

Because, hey, we're holding up.

Is that really all it takes?