Ireland has seen its youth unemployment rate drop for 10 of the last 11 months and has dropped to a ‘mere’ 26.6% – the lowest since July 2010 – in what is truly the only possible silver lining in today’s dreadful data. Four other nations now have broken the 40% youth unemployment with Italy finally joining the club (Italy 40.5%, Portugal 42.5%, Spain 58.2%, and Greece 62.5%). What is even more concerning these rates extremely high and are accelerating, rising faster than in recent months. Overall, Europe’s youth unemployment rate continues to march higher (to 24.4%) having not fallen for 24 months, but it is Spain that is the ‘winner’ with 41 consecutive months without a drop in youth unemployment. With welfare benefits running dry the fear is this summer may bring the unrest which so many are concerned about.

The US consumer continues to take a beating and it is affecting the GDP by spending less, today’s April personal spending and personal income both missed expectations, declining -0.2% from March. After a Q1 spending spree, economic growth in Q2 and onward as a function of consumer spending will only “taper” going forward especially with the delayed impacts of the payroll tax negative effect on spending finally starting to trickle down. What’s worse, is that since incomes did not improve in April, the savings rate remained flat at a minuscule 2.5%, or just off the lowest its has been since the start of the Second Great Fed-propped Depression.

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Ref: Tyler Durden – ZeroHedge