A spate of positive economic data released over the past couple of weeks has alleviated fears of a recession in the near term. Consumer sentiment, which was on the decline following concerns that the economy was slowing down due to high inflation, has also rebounded sharply in August. The University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment index rose to 67.8 in August from the final reading of 66.4 in July. This was also above the consensus estimate of a reading of 66.9. The survey's outlook for inflati ...