Restaurants haven't been doing this well in 10 years

Here's another positive sign for the US economy: restaurants are doing great.

This chart, which comes to us from Torsten Sløk at Deutsche Bank shows the strength in the restaurant performance index, which is at levels it hasn't seen in almost 10 years.

Much has been made about the potential for the decline in oil prices to $4, and this appears to be passing through to restaurants.

Of course, the strength of the restaurant index shouldn't come as a total surprise, as consumer confidence is through the roof and gas prices are at five-year lows: and what easier way to spend some extra income than going out to eat?