Investment Rating - The industry investment rating is "Recommended," indicating an expected increase in the industry index by more than 5% over the next 3-6 months compared to the benchmark index [51]. Core Insights - The Eurozone's investor confidence index saw a significant rebound in March, with the Sentix index rising to -2.9, surpassing expectations of -8.4 and the previous value of -12.7 [8]. - In the U.S., the Producer Price Index (PPI) for February was lower than expected, while the Consumer Price Index (CPI) showed an unexpected decline [7][9]. - The U.S. financial conditions are tightening, while the Eurozone is experiencing a loosening of financial conditions, as indicated by the Bloomberg financial conditions index [28]. Summary by Sections 1. Important Data Review - U.S. February PPI increased by 3.2% year-on-year, below the expected 3.3% and previous 3.5% [7]. - Eurozone's investor confidence index rebounded significantly in March [8]. - Japan's GDP for Q4 2024 was slightly revised down [7]. 2. Weekly Economic Activity Index - The U.S. WEI index rose to 2.65% for the week of March 8, up from 2.24% the previous week [14]. - Germany's WAI index increased to 0.51% for the week of March 9, compared to 0.24% the previous week [14]. 3. Demand - U.S. retail sales growth, as measured by the Redbook index, decreased to 5.7% year-on-year from 6.6% the previous week [17]. - Mortgage rates in the U.S. rose slightly to 6.65%, while mortgage applications increased by 11.2% [20]. 4. Employment - Initial jobless claims in the U.S. fell to 220,000, down from 222,000 the previous week [22]. 5. Prices - The RJ/CRB commodity price index was 302.67, showing a 0.1% decline from the previous week [25]. - U.S. gasoline prices decreased to $2.95 per gallon, down 0.1% from the previous week [25]. 6. Financial Conditions - The Bloomberg financial conditions index for the U.S. was 0.20, down from 0.27 the previous week, indicating tightening conditions [28]. - Offshore dollar liquidity has worsened, with the yen and euro swap basis against the dollar showing declines [28]. 7. Bond Yield Spread - The 10-year bond yield spread between Germany and Portugal narrowed, with spreads of -49.3bp and -106.0bp respectively [33].

Core Viewpoint - The article highlights the mixed signals in economic data from the US, Eurozone, and Japan, indicating a resilient service sector in the US, while manufacturing shows signs of weakness. Employment data is also showing marginal deterioration, suggesting potential risks in the economic outlook [2][5][6]. Economic Data Review - US service sector remains strong with the S&P Services PMI at 51, exceeding expectations of 49.7, while ISM Manufacturing PMI is at 50.3, below the expected 50.5 [5][14]. - Eurozone manufacturing, inflation, and employment data exceeded expectations, with the manufacturing PMI at 47.6, CPI at 2.4%, and unemployment rate at 6.2% [6][15]. - Japan's unemployment rate rose to 2.5%, higher than expected, but the service sector PMI remains robust at 53.7 [6][15]. High-Frequency Data - US economic activity index declined to 2.24, while Germany's index increased to around 0.41 [7][17]. - US retail sales growth rebounded to 6.6% year-on-year [8][18]. - Mortgage rates in the US decreased to 6.63%, with mortgage applications rebounding by 14.1% [9][19]. - Initial jobless claims in the US increased to 221,000, while continuing claims rose to 1.897 million [10][21]. Financial Conditions - Financial conditions in the US and Eurozone are tightening, with the Bloomberg Financial Conditions Index for the US at 0.27 [11][23]. - The US high-yield corporate bond spread widened to 2.91 basis points [25]. - The US-Euro bond yield spread narrowed significantly by approximately 44.9 basis points to 134.5 basis points [12][27].