ITALY DATA: Q1 GDP At 0.3% Q/Q; Superbonus Expiry Headwind Shows Signs Of Fading

Italian flash Q1 GDP was slightly stronger-than-expected at 0.3% Q/Q, with last quarter’s reading also revised up a tenth on a rounded basis to 0.2%. GDP rose 0.6% Y/Y (vs 0.4% cons, a downwardly revised 0.5% prior). Sentiment was fairly steady in Q1, but prospects for Q2 growth appear bleak with a sharp drop in April business and consumer confidence noted. 

• Very few details are provided in the flash release, which notes that “there is a positive contribution by the domestic component (gross of change in inventories) and a negative one by the net export component”.
• A similar downward contribution from net trade was seen in this morning’s French release.
• On the production side, there was an increase in value added in agriculture and industry, while services made no contribution to quarterly growth. 

US Earnings for Today, Two of the Mag 7 report after Markets:

• Pre Market: Caterpillar.
• Post Market: Meta, Microsoft, Qualcomm.

Tagesspiegel reports that co-leader of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), Lars Klingbeil, has put himself forward to serve as finance minister and vice chancellor in the incoming 'grand coalition' gov't with the centre-right Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU). NTV reports that the party's executive committee voted unanimously in favour of this position. The prospect of Kingbeil serving as finance minister and vice chancellor had previously been mooted during the course of coalition negotiations (see 'GERMANY: Coalition Deal Reached, Presentation @ 1500CET, SPD Takes Fin Min', 9 Apr 1126BST).

• Klingbeil (47), hailing from Lower Saxony, first sat in the Bundestag in 2005 before being re-elected in 2009 and serving ever since. He is viewed as a moderate within the party, hailing from the centrist, liberal Seeheim Circle, which bills itself as a 'practical and undogmatic' grouping, compared to other more overtly socialist factions.
• This comes after confirmation that the SPD's membership approved the coalition agreement with 84% approval on a turnout of 56%.
• As Tagesspiegel notes, this marks the third time that the SPD membership has been asked to approve a governing coalition (each time with the CDU/CSU). The percentage of members approving is higher than ever (76% yes in 2013, 66% yes in 2018), but the turnout is the lowest to date (higher than 78% in both cases). Some have put the low turnout down to the online-only nature of this year's vote dissuading some less tech-savvy SPD members from voting.