Economic activity increased in the first three months of this at a substantially stronger pace than expected. Most models and analysts underestimated the 3.2% advance in output in Q1, which marks a strong improvement over the 2.2% rise in last year’s Q4. Today’s update effectively puts to rest the fear that recession risk for the US economy was rising in the early months of 2019.
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Bloomberg’s Nir Kaissar is no fan of high-yield bonds. He warns that this slice of fixed income “is likely to be a drag on growth” for the risk portion of portfolios “while including them in non-risk undermines safety. Neither option is appealing.” Even worse, junk bonds don’t offer much diversification “because they’re highly correlated with stocks,” he charges.
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US growth expected to post solid gain in today’s Q1 GDP report: WSJ
Survey of economists: Fed on hold through 2020, no rate cut: Bloomberg
China’s president outlines plans for nat’l economic reform: CNBC
N. Korea’s Kim Jong Un: US acted in ‘bad faith’ at Hanoi summit: CNBC
Mfg activity slows in Fed’s 10th district in April: KC Fed
US jobless claims rose sharply last week but trend still healthy: CNBC
Final GDPNow estimate for Q1 GDP ticks down to +2.7%: Atlanta Fed
Core US durable goods orders for March accelerated to 5.3% 1yr increase: