The decline was brought on largely by consumer fears about the economy, says Brian Bethune with Global Insight, an economic consulting firm.

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"We're starting to move in the direction of a more broad-based recovery, " said Brian Bethune, chief economist of Alpha Economic Foresights LLC.

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Brian Bethune, an economics professor at Gordon College in Wenham, Mass.

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Rising high school graduation rates translate into a crush on college admissions offices, notes Brian Bethune, an economist at Global Insight, a consultancy in Waltham, Mass.

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Brian Bethune is chief U.S. economist at Global Insight.

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"The Fed can't wink, scratch its nose, wiggle its ears or do anything that would signal they are about to change policy from what they are doing now, " says Brian Bethune, an economics professor at Gordon College in Wenham, Mass.

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