While the stock market went up yesterday and news that home sales weren't slouching nearly as much as they had been, another piece of good news was released, albeit taken with extreme caution: the AIA's Architectural Billings Index crept up just slightly in February from its abysmal spot the month before, an all-time low at that. Though there are still some negative numbers in the mix, chiefly among commercial projects and larger residential buildings, any increase is good news for the heavily knocked around industry. Certainly no one is going out on a limb again and saying crazy things about a quick, full recovery, and the AIA's top money man definitely played it safe in his response, peppered 50/50 with both good and bad:

Kermit Baker, the AIA's chief economist, says that despite the small uptick in February, architects are likely to see a "light demand for new construction projects" through 2009.

...Kermit points out that the February inquiries score -- which jumped to 49.5, up from 43.5 in January -- does "provide hope that some stalled projects will resurface in the near future."