If you unplug your laptop cooling fan for a second, you can almost hear the faint whir of central bank printing presses warming up around the world.
Japan today announced 1st quarter GDP results, which were 0.9% for the quarter, or a horrific -3.7% annualized decline. This is for the January-March quarter, which means 1st quarter GDP consists of roughly 10 weeks of pre-quake data, and 3 weeks of post-quake data. So only ~25% of this report was affected by the quake/tsunami, and GDP is down at a 3.7% annual rate!!! Can you imagine how bloody the Q2 data will be?
Q2 Japanese GDP results are shaping up to be -10% OR WORSE!
Think the US or EU will be able to escape this vicious new downturn?
Its looking like The Bernank may not be able to afford running QE3 behind the scenes, QE3 is going to need to be $1-$2 Trillion MINIMUM, and with massive publicity to prevent the imminent equity rout once Q2 earnings are released throughout the western world.
Click here for GDP report from NHK World:
