The new CEO of Bank of America kicked off his first week on the job by striking a mostly optimistic tone about the economy during a speech this afternoon in Raleigh.

Companies will begin to re-hire in 2010, housing markets will continue to stabilize, household budgets remain under stress but are moving in the right direction, and consumer spending is improving, Brian Moynihan told an audience of about 1,000 business executives and others. He spoke at the eighth annual economic forecast forum sponsored by the N.C. Chamber and N.C. Bankers Association.

"The economic hole we're climbing out of is very deep," said Moynihan, 50, who became Bank of America's CEO on Jan. 1. "Getting out will not be easy -- and it will take time."

For its part, the Charlotte-based bank and nation's largest lender will increase lending to businesses, and modify more mortgages to aid homeowners. He also said that reform is inevitable, given the amount of damage the financial industry caused to the nation's economy.

A Federal Reserve governor who helps set interest rates expects the nation to see a "moderate pace" of economic growth this year but unemployment will remain high.

Elizabeth Duke spoke at the annual economic forecast forum in Raleigh sponsored by the N.C. Chamber and N.C. Bankers Association. It was a sort of homecoming for Duke, 57, who received her bachelor’s degree from UNC Chapel Hill.

While gaining access to credit "remains difficult" for many consumers and small businesses, Duke said in her prepared remarks that she's "somewhat optimistic" that lending will ease later this year. Duke also said she expects inflation to stay "subdued."

Duke didn't give specific forecasts for the jobless rate or economic growth, but said that the U.S. will need to add about 100,000 jobs each month to reduce the unemployment rate by 0.1 percentage point.

The Federal Reserve's policy makers are widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged when they meet next on Jan. 27. Duke joined the Fed in August 2008 after a long career in banking.

 As for her Tar Heel ties, Duke said she graduated from UNC but started at N.C. State, "so you could say I got a good education."

Have you heard the one about the guy who came in for a CT scan?

Of course you haven't, and the joke is on you. Because doctors and health officials failed to track the patient, the fellow in question got 328 brain scans in just two years.

That incident -- which took place in this state -- is emblematic of the nation's broken health care system, said Lanier Cansler, N.C. Secretary of Health and Human Services. We've got the science to map a patient's brain but we don't have a system in place to keep patients from getting unnecessary procedures.

"You can recognize that person because they glow in the dark," Cansler quipped.