* US debt-ceiling crisis is still approaching with few, if any, signs of progress
* China launches cybersecurity probe into US chipmaker Micron Technology
* World Bank warns of “lost decade” ahead for global growth
* Italy is first Western country to block AI chatbot ChatGPT
* Global manufacturing output rises for second month in March
* Interest rates for car loans reach record high
* US construction spending unexpectedly eased in February
* US ISM Mfg Index slides deeper in March, indicating contraction for fifth month:

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Most asset classes rebounded in March, led by inflation-indexed government bonds ex-US, based on a set of ETF proxies. The downside outlier: real estate shares in the US and around the world.

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* Saudi Arabia and other major oil producers announce oil output cut
* Analysts predict oil at $100 per barrel after OPEC’s surprise output cut
* China factory growth stalled in March, according to PMI survey
* Eurozone factory output rises slightly in March via PMI survey data
* Credit risk for bonds matters again in the wake of banking turmoil
* “Dr. Doom” remains as gloomy as ever on the economic outlook
* Lake Tulare’s return in California will raise prices for variety of farm goods
* Fed’s preferred inflation metric eases but remains high:

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● Gradual: The Case for Incremental Change in a Radical Age
Greg Berman and Aubrey Fox
Review via The Economist
Revolutionaries have the best slogans. The Bolsheviks shouted “Peace! Land! Bread!” Mao Zedong promised a “Great Leap Forward”. Che Guevara claimed to “tremble with indignation at every injustice”. Advocates of gradual change, by contrast, find it hard to compose a good rallying cry. No crowd ever worked itself into a frenzy chanting: “What do we want? Incremental reform! When do we want it? When budgetary conditions allow!”
But as Greg Berman and Aubrey Fox argue in “Gradual”, incrementalism works. Revolutionaries promise paradise but often bring about bloodshed, bread lines and book-banning. Humanity has grown more prosperous by making a long series of often modest improvements to an unsatisfactory status quo. The Industrial Revolution, despite its name, was not a single, sudden event but thousands of cumulative innovations spread across nearly a century. “Over time, incremental reforms can add up to something truly transformative,” note the authors.

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