Rational Exuberance?

Spoilsport economists may say it's not yet time to reach for the sunglasses, but Asia's economic storm is starting to clear. A brighter outlook for the remainder of 2003 propelled stock markets in South Korea and Hong Kong to 13-month highs last week; even Japan's moribund Nikkei index, which sunk to a 20-year low in late April, has since rebounded 35%. Meanwhile, retailers and real estate brokers in down-and-out Hong Kong say buyers seem to be slowly returning. "The general mood here has improved in the past two weeks," says Hong Kong Financial Secretary Henry Tang, predicting the economy will be...