Surprisingly, consumer sentiment rises in March

In a financial climate and an economy like this, you look for small victories -- small upsides, amid the long struggle back to economic health and sustainable growth.

One such small positive occurred Friday: the Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers said its consumer sentiment index for March (preliminary) increased to 56.6 from 56.3 in February, Reuters reports. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had expected the index to fall to 55 in March. The index's record low of 51.7 was set in May 1980.