Syz the moment

1984: 42% 1994: 63% 2004: 93% 2014: 114% 2024: 187% Source: Charlie Bilello

Source: www.zerohedge.com

Source: Visual Capitalist

Real GDP expanded at a 1.6% rate in Q1, trailing all forecasts. Main growth engine – personal spending – rose at a slower-than-forecast 2.5% pace. BUT a closely watched measure of underlying inflation advanced at a greater-than-expected 3.7% clip... While "soft" macro data in the first 3 months of the year were "goldilocks" for markets (Growth surprising on the upside + disinflation), the effective Q1 print does not look as rosy... Source: HolgerZ, Bloomberg

Street consensus is 2.5%. Q1 GDP will be published today

Gross domestic product in the January to March period grew 5.3% compared to a year ago, faster than the 4.6% growth expected by economists polled by Reuters, and compared to the 5.2% expansion in the fourth quarter of 2023. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, China’s GDP grew 1.6% in the first quarter, compared to a Reuters poll expectations of 1.4% and a revised fourth quarter expansion of 1.2%. Beijing has set a 2024 growth target of around 5%. https://lnkd.in/eNZgs7zp Source: CNBC

France's budget (in)discipline... Since the Great Financial Crisis in 2008, France managed to keep its budget deficit below the 3% threshold (remember the Maastricht Treaty) just once (2018). This is far worse than Italy. France's debt-to-GDP ratio is at 110%, up from 64% pre-financial crisis. With potential GDP growth at a paltry 1% and declining, structurally low interest rates is needed to keep the debt burden afloat. Source: Jeroen Blokland, Bloomberg

This is significantly higher than all major advances in technology including the Steam Engine and the Internet. Source: Barchart, Ark Invest