U.S. economy accelerates after a weak start
In the aftermath of the U.S. elections, several sentiment indicators literally went through the roof. In some cases they reached levels not seen since the early 1980s. So-called hard indicators, like industrial production, failed to follow through. First-quarter GDPdata confirmed the dismal start of the U.S. economy into 2017. We have repeatedly cautioned that the super-strong sentiment data should be taken with a grain of salt, and that the truth will probably lie between the strong "soft" and weaker "hard" indicators. Only recently, we are getting some evidence from hard indicators that the U.S. economy is accelerating. Meanwhile, we have seen some previously very strong sentiment indicators to come down again.
Sources: Bloomberg Finance L.P., Deutsche Asset Management Investment GmbH; as of 5/18/17
