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Massachusetts’ economy has moved into a strange period.

Unemployment has shrunk from its summer high of 17 percent, yet still is the worst in the nation at 16 percent. Retail stores and well-known bars and restaurants are closing left and right.

At the same time, home sales have never been stronger and several major real estate developments have been launched, including an ambitious and expensive air rights project over the Mass. Pike anchored by two of the sectors whose future the COVID-19 pandemic has most thrown into doubt: hotels and downtown office space. And bank earnings, with a few notable exceptions, are strong.

All this goes on while research on vaccines and treatments for COVID-19 continue apace, hopefully hastening the day American can get back to a “normal” that seemed so far away as the pandemic hit Massachusetts this spring.

Where does this fractured picture leave you? Are you more or less optimistic about the state’s near-term economic future? Take our poll and tell us.