Succinctly summarizing the positive and negative news, data, and market events of the week...
Positives
- Gold selling off hard - Investors no longer worried about inflation is the meme (What Happened Last Time We Saw This?)
- March housing starts surge (But What's Beneath the Headline)
- Gas prices & CPI Drop in March
- Obama prepares for 'Stability Operations' in Syria -- Uber bullish during recessions
- Initial Claims Don't Miss By Much…
- Beige Book wasn't terrible
- Lagarde is "Deliberately, Decisively, Desperately Optimistic", So there's that
- First Boston Bomber found and killed – Chechen origin perhaps seen by market as evidence not a systemic terrorist threat
- G-20 Communique confirms Japan can continue with its devaluation
Negatives
- Philly Fed Mfg Index Misses Big (Predictably, we're told to ignore it)
- Alas, Empire Mfg Index Also Disappoints
- Homebuilder confidence plunges
- Housing Starts plunge
- Gold drops most in 30 years
- File under: ‘Recovery’-- US households on foodstamps Hit Record High
- Hindenburg Omen Reappears
- Our 'Recovery' file is getting full: IMF Slashes World Growth Expectations
- 10Yr Treasury Yields at 2013 Lows
- Apple tests new 'Generational Lows'
- US Mint Selling Gold Before it Hits $0
- IMF Slashes World Growth forecast
- IMF Warns On Spanish Debt Load (Insert Obligatory Reinhart & Rogoff Excel Error Rebuttal)
- IBM misses both top & bottom line
- Earnings are a total disaster
- Fitch downgrades UK to AA+ from AAA
- Worst week in macro data for 11 weeks
Additional
- Tragedy in Boston
- Gold's move in Context
- Dylan Grice discusses Gold: "Inflation is slow and is a long-term problem"
(h/t @ZH_Crown)