We continue to hear that the US is the cleanest dirty shirt or that the US economy is doing 'relatively' well as a reason for buying stocks now. Not only is this plainly incorrect (as we have pointed out rather vociferously in the recent past [3]) it flies the face of the disconnect between macro and markets. The fact of the matter is that year-to-date, the US economic data performance is the equal worst (with Japan) of all major economic nations and regions. That is a bucket-load of hope for the second-half of the year - or, as we noted recently, is it just plain silly [3].
Year-to-Date move in Citigroup's Macro Surprise Indicators...
[4]
...so if you are buying stocks on the macro 'cleanest dirty shirt' you have been misled. If you are buying stocks on the market 'cleanest dirty short' perhaps your money is best spent in Argentina or Japan - both up considerably more than the US market this year (which must be a good thing?)...
Charts: Bloomberg