This morning's bad 0.5% US GDP report didn't surprise us. It didn't surprise the Long End of The Curve (Long Bond) either. We're the only firm to have called the slow-down from its 2015 cycle peak.
Macro markets have been discounting GDP #GrowthSlowing for months now. That's why the Fed has pivoted back to dovish, devaluing the Dollar, in a last gasp hope to "reflate" asset prices.
In the next 3 months, we think the probability is at its highest point that US GDP goes negative sequentially (Hedgeye Predictive Tracking Algo is currently forecasting +0.3% QoQ SAAR for Q2). While many are trying to make the argument (Bloomberg, CNBC, etc.) that GDP "doesn't matter" like it used to ... we've never traveled with that conflict of interest crowd, and we won't this time either. (See Shame On You Mark Zandi for more on this).
Instead, we'll remind you that there is an epic amount of credit cycle risk associated with the profit cycle going to negative on a year-over-year basis. And tell you to short both Junk and High Yield (again).
As my colleague Darius Dale wrote in a note to institutional subscribers today,
Assuming Q1 isn’t revised in any material way, our forecast for 1H16E represents the slowest pace of domestic economic growth on a multi-quarter basis since 2H12. Any downside surprises from there will surely translate to renewed recession fears.
Stay long The Long Bond, Utilities, Gold, MCD, etc.
