The full profile of the U.S. economy for December is nearly complete, and so far the numbers continue to look mildly encouraging. It’s hardly a perfect report card, and we’re still waiting for some key numbers. But based on the data released so far, it appears that growth had the upper hand in the last month of 2011.

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It’s been a good year so far for risky assets. Year-to-date returns don’t mean much at this point, but the out-of-the-gate start keeps hope alive. Yet the crowd always finds a reason to worry and the “surprisingly tranquil” profile of runnup will do nicely. Nonetheless, U.S. stocks look quite strong on a technical basis these days as domestic equities extend the rally that began in mid-December. Foreign stocks are following suit. Or is it the other way around? But amid a rising appetite for risk, investment-grade bonds are sagging, thanks mostly to lightening up on Treasuries. It’s a different story for foreign bonds, which are rising in U.S. dollar terms, in part thanks to fresh weakness in the greenback. Meantime, commodities overall look stuck in neutral, although gold is beginning to percolate again. And after a brief respite, real estate investment trusts are taking wing once more. The question is whether the revival is a sign of things to come for the year ahead? Much depends on how the economic numbers fare in the weeks ahead. We know that recession looks like a done deal in Europe, but the consensus view is more favorable for the U.S. Meantime, here’s how the charts stack up for the major asset classes via our usual list of ETF proxies…

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