Welcome to the dull part of recovery. As the economy starts to re-engage, economic data to point to slow improvements and investors digest what was a strong earnings season, this phase of the cycle may end up being as exciting as watching paint dry. Some economists and commentators have taken it upon themselves to offer a play-by-play of the drying, but a few are looking ahead to the next coat.

Take the market. Despite some ups and down, prospects for stocks still appear positive, if unexciting, according to Strategas Research Partners analysts Christopher Verrone and Nicholas Bohnsack.

While 1150 resistance on the S&P 500 has proved to be stubborn over recent days, our base case remains a steady grind higher to the 1230 level," they wrote in a March 15 note.

On the same day, the ISI Group surveys returned data showing pickups in some key sectors: home building, trucking, capital goods, restaurants, auto dealers, temporary employment companies, permanent employment companies, airlines, chemical companies and technology companies. They ve increased their readings over the last several weeks and have returned to levels last seen before the Sept. 15 , 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Market watchers also reported green shoots from retailers. Improved results from a variety of sellers, including Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) and Phillips Van Heusen (PVH), "reflects belief that the consumer is starting to spend again," wrote Donald Ratajczak, chief economist for Morgan Keegan, in a Tuesday note.

However, those gains won't continue forever, and it won't be speedy, he says. "The industrials clearly reflect belief that the recovery is sustainable and will intensify. I believe the sustainable assumption is valid, but when the government stimulus recedes I expect to see a modest recovery," he wrote.

In Washington, Tuesday's Federal Reserve Open Market Committee statement prompted more parsing of its language for clues on when interest rates will rise. It also prompted some economists to look forward beyond the paint-drying to a point at which their worries about inflation might eclipse their concerns about economic weakness.

"While the 'extended period' language remained in this FOMC statement, adjusting either this phrase, or the description of the fed funds rate as 'extremely low' (say, to just 'low') would also be a signal that policy is set to be adjusted," Strategas chief economist Don Rissmiller wrote Wednesday, adding that "inflation is likely a concern for the economic expansion, rather than the recovery."

Another bogeyman for the markets, the sweeping health-care reform bill championed by President Obama that was slated for a major House vote on Sunday, may have fewer investment consequences than even its greatest detractors believe.

"I wouldn t be surprised if health-care stocks rally since they ve probably largely discounted the bad news," Yardeni Research founder and chief economist Ed Yardeni wrote Tuesday, adding that "the S&P 500 Health Care sector is as cheap now relative to the S&P 500 as it was when HillaryCare was on the table" in the early 1990s.

So for now, as the cycle moves slowly toward recovery, investors are left wondering about future market directions. A few strategists drilled down about the longer-term outlook for stocks.

"Now that the economic recovery has gained some momentum, investors, quite naturally, have begun to ask whether recent leadership by small-capitalization value stocks will persist," Lord Abbett senior economist and market strategist Milton Ezrati wrote Wednesday." If history is any guide, the answer is yes, for a while longer at least (although there is no guarantee that they will perform in the same manner under similar conditions in the future). Small stocks tend to lead during these times, but the evidence is ambiguous enough to consider diversification."

And of course, there is the contrarian conviction, expressed pithily by Gluskin Sheff chief economist and market strategist David Rosenberg, that the economy is headed once again to the precipice, that recent rallies were like those in Japan during the 1990s: "rented, not owned."

"The perception that this is turning out to be a normal sustainable expansion is strong and pervasive, although the reality is that this is just a brief statistical bounce aided and abetted by unprecedented government bailouts and intervention." he wrote Wednesday, decrying the "herd effect" as a glib excuse to stay long the market. "This is not the time to live in the moment but to plan for the future."