The Narrow Boom

Markets spent the past week doubting the proposition that has carried them all year. Technology stocks fell, bonds caught a defensive bid — none of it about the macro data, which if anything improved. In our charts this week:

→ Blue Chip: growth up almost everywhere, inflation down

→ US trend growth marked up — back to where it sat a decade ago

→ US construction: data centres rising, everything else falling faster

→ Chips now dominate Chinese exports. Solar has collapsed

→ China’s surplus with the EU widens. Europe sells no more

→ What European firms use AI for: words and pictures