Despite the total and utter cognitive dissonance of talking-heads on mainstream media channels, the US economic data is not 'strong', is not 'goldilocks', is not 'decoupled', is not 'solid'. In fact, it's absolutely terrible. Bloomberg's US Macro data indicator which tracks both beats-and-misses and improvement/deterioration in data - is at 11-month lows. February alone has seen 29 data items miss expectations (from retail sales to industrial production) with only 4 data points beating expectations (including the constantly revised nonfarm payrolls data which so many hang their hat on). US macro at 11-month lows... (note that the data cliff-dives at end Sept 2014 - which corresponds with the government's fiscal-year-end) February... MISS Personal Spending Construction Spending ISM New York Factory Orders Ward's Domestic Vehicle Sales ADP Employment Challenger Job Cuts Initial Jobless Claims Nonfarm Productivity Trade Balance Unemployment Rate Labor Market Conditions Index NFIB Small Business Optimism Wholesale Inventories Wholesale Sales IBD Economic Optimism Mortgage Apps Retail Sales Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Business Inventories UMich Consumer Sentiment Empire Manufacturing NAHB Homebuilder Confidence Housing Starts Building Permits PPI Industrial Production Capacity Utilization Manufacturing Production BEAT Personal Income Markit Services PMI Nonfarm Payrolls JOLTS * * * But apart from that... everything is awesome.