Who does not wish to dance on the sunlit uplands of the recovered economy? Home Depot spent Wednesday describing to analysts what life will be like once the recession fades into memory. The home improvement retailer will be simplified, more mechanised and offer better service, while ultimately becoming more profitable. No doubt its employees will also sup on honeysuckle while investors recline on pillows stuffed with cash.

For now the promise of 10 per cent operating margins and a 15 per cent return on capital employed lies in the non-specific long term. An updated outlook provided by Home Depot on Wednesday marked a change in expectations for the current year from extremely dreadful to merely dreadful. Sales to February 2010 are still forecast to fall by 9 per cent (after falling 8 per cent the year before). The “good news” is that adjusted earnings may fall as little as 20 per cent compared with the 26 per cent drop predicted in May.