Business confidence up in Mass.

BOSTON (WWLP) - A monthly index of business confidence reports that Massachusetts is showing some growing optimism, but other business leaders say that this bit of good news doesn’t really mean much.

The Associated Industries of Massachusetts reported an increase of 2.7 points in its business confidence index for the month of November. That is the first rise in three months. Business analysts agree that Massachusetts is doing better relative to other states in the country, but they caution that the fragile state of the national and global economy could send things crashing down at any moment.

“It's clearly small in measure, because there's an awareness that we have national and global problems like the European debt problems, which could send us back, U.S. and Massachusetts, back into another recession,” said Michael Widmer, President of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

The overall confidence index now stands at 50.1 points on a scale of 100. A reading above 50 indicates employers are more optimistic than pessimistic about the economy.