Hi Reader, here's what you need to know for May 3rd in 3:00 minutes.

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Today's big stories

The US saw a big pickup in economic growth last quarter, but Europe slid into a double-dip recession
The possibilities of hydrogen are theoretically endless, and so are the investment opportunities that come with it – Read Now
Barclays broke from banks’ recent run of upbeat results to reveal a disappointing update

Worlds Apart

What’s Going On Here?

Fresh data showed the US economy was firing on all cylinders again last quarter, even as Europe surrendered to a double-dip recession.

What Does This Mean?

The US economy grew at an annualized rate of 6.4% last quarter – a marked acceleration from the quarter before. That was largely down to an 11% uptick in the biggest contributor to the US economy: consumer spending. Clearly, then, the second government stimulus check and rapid job growth have worked wonders.

Europe wasn’t quite so lucky: its economy shrank 0.6% from the quarter before, officially plunging the region into a “double-dip” recession – that is, two periods of contraction separated by a brief stint of expansion. “My bad,” said Germany: Europe’s biggest and worst-hit economy shrank by 1.7% as consumers halted their spending till the sitüation sörts itself out.

Why Should I Care?

The bigger picture: The gap between both economies is growing.
The regions’ diverging economic performances mainly comes down to the diverging success of their vaccine rollouts. Almost a third of the US population has been fully vaccinated, which has allowed many states to relax their pandemic restrictions. Compare that to major European economies like Germany, France, and Italy, where less than 10% of the populations have had both jabs. At this rate, economists reckon, Europe won’t make up the ground it’s lost from the pandemic until mid-2022 – while the US should be back up to speed in the next few months (tweet this).

Zooming in: Big government isn’t going away.
The stimulus checks – along with various other support measures – are a big part of why US government spending grew by an annualized 6% last quarter. That’s the biggest jump since 2002, and the government isn’t stopping there: the US president’s recently proposed two more spending plans – one focused on infrastructure and the other on families – that would infuse trillions more dollars into the country’s economy over the next decade.

You might also like: What’s next for the global economy?

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2. Analyst Take

The Limitless Investment Potential Of “The Fuel Of Tomorrow”

What’s Going On Here?

There’s a lot of talk these days about hydrogen as “the clean fuel of the future”.

And with good reason: the gas can be used to generate electricity, to manufacture chemicals and materials, to fuel cars, and on, and on – all without producing any emissions.

And now that the US president’s infrastructure plan has pledged to support hydrogen-related energy projects, you might want to start paying attention.

Namely, to the companies that produce the gas, or those that manufacture electrolyzers and fuel cells, or those carmakers that have tapped into the trend – the list goes on.

That’s today’s Insight: why hydrogen has gained the reputation it has, and which hydrogen-inclined companies might go boom.

Read or listen to the Insight here

Optical Illusions

What’s Going On Here?

Barclays reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Friday, but investors saw something very different when they squinted more closely at the British investment bank’s results.

What Does This Mean?

It’s true, Barclays’ profit came in 30% higher than expected, and its stock trading segment’s revenue grew twice as fast as those of its rivals last quarter. But that’s not quite the whole story. See, the revenue it makes from two of its major businesses – advising companies on raising money and enabling investors to trade bonds, currencies, and commodities – only grew about half as fast as other banks. And given that French bank BNP Paribas also saw revenue from its bond, currency, and commodity trading business drop off, investors seemed to take it as a sign that both banks were losing market share – and they sent both companies’ shares down.

Why Should I Care?

For markets: Investors made a rod for banks’ backs.
Neither BNP Paribas nor Barclays’ results were bad exactly, but investors had been hoping for something outstanding. After all, European banks HSBC, Santander, and Deutsche Bank all reported strong earnings last week, with the latter even posting its best quarter since 2014. That preemptively lifted investors’ expectations, and the region’s banking stocks along with them.

The bigger picture: Activist investors may have had a point.
The drawback of a riskier investment banking segment like trading is that a favorable environment can vanish as quickly as it appeared, just like it did for Barclays. That’s partly why a prominent activist investor was pushing for the bank to focus on the reliable – if unexciting – business of savings and loans. And now that rising bond yields are driving up that business’s profitability, the activist in question may feel vindicated…

You might also like: How rising rates drive rising bank profits.

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💬 Quote of the day

“Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without.”

– Jiao Hong (a Chinese philosopher and historian)

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📚 What we're reading

This man is an island (All That’s Interesting)
You’re overpaying for premium wireless service (Mint Mobile)*
Sushi for cows (Gizmodo)
How to not get fired (The Walrus)

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🌎 Finimize Live

🏈 Sports: bringing the world together

American football is the backbone of American culture, soccer is a centerpiece of the European weekend, and foozball – well, foozball is loved by sweaty bar clientele the world over. There’s a lot of love for sports, is what we’re saying, and the CEO of Roundhill Investments reckons that means one thing: Investing In Professional Sports could be a real money-spinner.

📈 The Shift From Growth To Value Stocks: 6pm UK time, May 4th\
⚽️ Investing In Professional Sports: 6pm UK time, May 5th
🤒 The Financial Health Check: 4pm UK time, May 6th
🎉 Crowdfunding Club: 1pm NYC time, May 10th
☄️ The Future Of Commodities: 6pm UK time, May 12th
🤖 NFTs: A Modern-Day Masterpiece?: 5pm UK time, May 13th
♻️ The Green Bond Revolution: 6pm UK time, May 19th
💪 Building A Circular Economy: 5pm UK time, May 25th
🌍 The Hidden Potential Of Emerging Markets: 6.30pm UK time, May 25th
🛍 The Inflation Situation: 2pm UK time, May 27th
🇨🇳 The Surge In China’s Tech Scene: 5pm UK time, June 1st
🤔 How to Understand Fundamental Analysis: 5pm UK time, June 8th

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Finimize - 💥 Hydrogen goes boom

Today's big stories

Worlds Apart

What’s Going On Here?

What Does This Mean?

Why Should I Care?

The Limitless Investment Potential Of “The Fuel Of Tomorrow”

Optical Illusions

What’s Going On Here?

What Does This Mean?

Why Should I Care?

Crypto swaps made simple

🏈 Sports: bringing the world together

Older messages

🚀 Amazon to the moon

⚔️ Apple vs. Facebook

📈 Google never fails

😎 Europe buys a Tesla

🥊 Bitcoin vs. bitcoin ETF

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