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Threat of a recession, China slowing and Bitcoin drops again.The R wordThere is a "very, very high risk" of a US recession, Goldman Sachs Se [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Threat of a recession, China slowing and Bitcoin drops again. The R word There is a "very, very high risk" of a US recession, Goldman Sachs Senior Chairman Lloyd Blankfein [warned]( over the weekend. “If I were running a big company, I would be very prepared for it,” he told CBS’s “Face the Nation.” Even so, a recession isn't baked in the cake, Blankfein added. Separately, the bank's economists cut their growth [forecast]( for this year to 2.4% from 2.6%. China slowing China’s economy is paying the price for the government’s Covid Zero policy, with industrial output and consumer spending sliding to the [worst levels since the pandemic]( began and analysts warning of no quick recovery. The central bank [refrained from cutting]( interest rates despite mounting evidence of a sharp slowdown in economic growth, suggesting policy makers may be concerned about the currency’s depreciation and capital outflows. Bitcoin falls Bitcoin dropped below $30,000 after the weak Chinese data dented appetite for riskier assets. While digital-asset markets were calmer on Monday, the undoing of Terra will have far reaching effects on the industry. The failure threatens to have a cooling effect on the [fundraisings]( that have jacked up crypto startups’ valuations. Venture capitalists may not have quite the same risk tolerance now. Stocks slip US futures declined. S&P 500 futures fell 0.3% and Nasdaq 100 contracts dropped 0.6% as of 6:30 a.m. New York time. The dollar was little changed, and the 10-year Treasuries yield was 2.9% . European stocks were mixed, with the Stoxx 600 down 0.2%. Tech, travel and personal care were the worst-performing sectors. Spot gold fluctuated around $1,800, a level it’s been unable to break free from since mid-2020. Coming up... Data in focus includes the May Empire Manufacturing Survey due at 8:30 a.m. and March's TIC flows data at 4 p.m. On the speakers front, Fed's John Williams will take part in a discussion hosted by the Mortgage Bankers Association in New York at 8:55 a.m. There’s likely to be some focus on the BOE's Andrew Bailey, who will testify on the latest Monetary Policy Report before a UK Treasury committee at 10:15 a.m. What we've been reading Here's what caught our eye over the weekend. - Meet the [hedge-fund manager]( who warned of Terra’s implosion. - [Walmart woos]( college grads. - The [UK is in the danger zone](. - [NATO prepares to add Finland](, Sweden. - Goldman grants [unlimited vacation](. - NY Governor says [social media must crackdown after Buffalo](. - Google is sharing [a lot of personal data](. - The rich face off [against the superrich](. And finally, here’s what Joe’s interested in this morning There's a lot going on right now, so there's a lot on my mind. So here's a few scattered thoughts on a wide variety of topics. 1) One of the big things to watch in markets this week is whether we continue to see signs that yields have topped. Last week marked a significant shift whereby Treasuries stopped falling alongside stocks. We seem to be hitting some point, whereby economic concerns or market concerns are starting to affect the Fed trajectory. This wasn't the case until recently. 2) Goldman Sachs has cut its US growth forecast for this year and next. What's important is that they don't see a [significant rise in the unemployment rate](. A lot of people are hoping that this is the case, that labor demand is so strong, that we can have an overall slowing economy without a big worsening of the job market. We'll see. 3) Speaking of careers, [Walmart has announced a new program to hire college graduates]( into management roles. No sign of a slowdown in labor demand in this space. 4) On the other hand, we are seeing weakening demand for labor in once hot areas. For months, everyone has been talking about how hard it has been to hire in crypto. But with the plunging coins, startups in the space are being told to [tighten their belts and slow hiring](. 5) Speaking of crypto, check out our new Odd Lots with Kevin Zhou of Galois Capital, which loudly warned about Terra and then [shorted it before the collapse](. It’s one of the clearest explanations you'll get into how it all went down. 6) [US electricity strains are getting worse](, with the latest stress showing up in Texas again. This is bad in its own right, and particularly bad if we want to put more demands on the grid (e.g. electric cars). 7) Going back to Terra/Luna collapse for a second. Something that I think gets missed is that Luna tokens were soaring over the last several months, even as most cryptos (like Ether) were going sideways or down. Part of the reason is that it briefly had negative beta characteristics to the market, because in a "risk off" period, everyone wants to hide in stablecoins. And because the UST stablecoin was offering the highest yield (unsustainably), that's where everyone wanted to hide it. Follow Bloomberg's Joe Weisenthal on Twitter [@TheStalwart]( Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Five Things - Americas newsletter. 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