"The 2 million mark is one of those significant barriers for a country to cross. We are there now though and the government must deal with it. There is no hiding place and they need to do everything within their power to get the economy moving." Rob Pike, head of trading, shortsandlongs.com

"We will impose on AIG a contractual commitment to pay the Treasury from the operations of the company the amount of the retention awards just paid." -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in a letter to congressional leaders.

"I don't think that this is the beginning of a recovery. It's the beginning of a much slower pace of decline." -- Ethan Harris, with Barclays in New York, commenting on recent less-dire economic data. "You've got to walk before you run."

"We get a sense that consumers are not necessarily cowering in their fox holes like they were in the fourth quarter." -- Jay Bryson, global economist at Wachovia. "Some of the shock is over. Granted, consumer confidence isn't high at all, but the shock is over."

"We still can't really relax, since we won't know the full details of this profit until quarterly results come out." -- Takashi Ushio, of Japan's Marusan Securities, on bank earnings.

"The bottom of the recession is likely to be reached this summer. The economic situation is extremely bad, but there are first signs of hope" -- ZEW chief Wolfgang Franz.