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A US recession, upbeat earnings and the ever-present European energy crunch.What recession?President Joe Biden touted low unemployment, job [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( A US recession, upbeat earnings and the ever-present European energy crunch. What recession? President Joe Biden [touted]( low unemployment, job creation and foreign investment as signs the US isn’t in a recession and urged Congress to pass legislation to counteract soaring inflation. Data released Thursday showed US gross domestic product contracted for two consecutive quarters, marking a technical recession. Over in Europe, Germany’s economy [stagnated]( as the rest of Europe smashed expectations, showing the continent is on an uneven footing amid pervasive price pressures. Upbeat earnings Amazon.com and Apple are set to add almost $230 billion in market value Friday, soaring in pre-market trading after upbeat earnings buoyed risk sentiment -- particularly for those worried about an economic slowdown. [Amazon beat]( with its sales forecast and said it's starting to rein in hiring with a focus on cutting costs. [Apple beat]( analysts’ revenue expectations thanks in part to higher iPhone sales at a time when global smartphone shipments are falling globally. In Europe, the banking sector outperformed after a slate of better-than-expected [results]( from Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, [Standard Chartered]( and BNP Paribas. Energy crunch Engie Chief Executive Officer Catherine MacGregor said the French utility’s clients are [cutting natural gas consumption]( as prices soar amid Russia’s squeeze on fuel deliveries to Europe. European nations are scrambling to reduce gas consumption and find alternatives amid fears Russia will fully halt deliveries. Meanwhile, Swiss exports to Russia of turbojets, air pumps and other machinery surged in the past two months as manufacturers [raced to fill any orders]( signed before sanctions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine render some of the sales illegal. Stocks rally US futures rallied into the last trading day of July on the earnings euphoria. S&P 500 contracts rose about 0.7%, on course for its biggest monthly gain since November 2020 as of 5:55 a.m. in New York, while those on the Nasdaq 100 climbed 1.2% as of 5:50 a.m. New York time. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 rose about 1% as well, as construction, miners and retailers outperformed. The dollar pared some losses, but remained about 0.1% lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose about 4 basis points to 2.71%. Oil jumped, with a modest gain in gold, while Bitcoin was little changed. Coming up... A busy week is heading for a busy ending, with GDP numbers in Mexico and Canada as well as the US PCE report, the MNI Chicago PMI and the University of Michigan consumer sentiment numbers. Then there’s the Baker Hughes US oil rig count and Colombia’s rate decision. And to round it all out, today brings earnings reports from Exxon, Chevron, P&G, AbbVie, Colgate, LyondellBasell, Phillips 66, Rogers and Citrix. What we've been reading Here's what caught our eye over the last 24 hours. - Euro-zone inflation hits [fresh record](. - Biden, Xi plan [in-person meet](. - The Chinese government, TikTok, and a [stealth propaganda]( account. - [Vintage Ferraris]( collection. - Rents in New York and Singapore [have skyrocketed](. - Crypto collapse [floods the market]( with luxury watches. - The [Biden administration]( plans a Covid-19 booster campaign. And finally, here’s what Garfield's interested in this morning Peak inflation may or may not be here, but bonds are leading the way in declaring that the top is in for aggressive central bank tightening. Global bonds are set for their best monthly gain since 2020, bouncing back from a record slump in the first half of 2022. A few months after bond investors shot down Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s thesis that inflation would be “transitory,” they are now rushing to bet that he will get cost pressures under control. While Powell assured the US that this year’s rapid 2.25 percentage points of rate hikes do not a recession make, a second-straight contraction in gross domestic product led traders to slash rate expectations. Bonds had already started pricing in a recession. A Powell-favored part of the yield curve is flattening at a record pace to sound the alarm. There are concerns that markets are misreading the Powell pivot, as well as debate on whether it might be too early for such a shift amid decades-high inflation. Nevertheless, investors are very confident inflation is coming down sometime soon, and that will allow the Fed and other major central banks to ease off on the pace of tightening. Australia, for example, saw traders pare rate expectations even before the Fed met. Bonds rallied hard as inflation there jumped to the fastest annual pace for 20 years, missing expectations it would reach a 30-year high. The moves may have been exacerbated by lingering low-liquidity concerns. The Bank of England has already moved to a cautious approach on raising rates, which Goldman Sachs Group says will hurt the pound. And the European Central Bank may also end up lifting rates less than had been expected, with JPMorgan Chase warning the region is set for a recession by year’s end. Garfield Reynolds is Chief Rates Correspondent for Bloomberg News in Asia, based in Sydney. 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. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. [Unsubscribe]( [Bloomberg.com]( [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022 [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( [Ad Choices](