New economic data from Europe, China, and Japan shows a mixed picture.

So how should investors interpret that?

This is the markets, a new series from Goldman Sachs exchanges.

Hi, I'm Sam Grobart.

Today we're going to take a quick trip around the world with Luke Bars from Goldman Sachs

asset management.

Luke, thanks so much for joining us today.

Thanks for having me, Sam.

Luke, there have been a number of data points this week indicating economies outside the

U.S. are showing strong growth, in particular growth in continental Europe, has been surprising to the upside.

While the US Fed is signaling a pause in interest rate hikes, can the ECB take a

similar approach or is Europe's economy running too hot?

It's a great question.

If we take one step back and let's understand

what both central banks are having to deal with,

it's the challenge of inflation,

which is still not at the level

central banks want it to be at, and the potential

challenge now of tightening credit conditions.

When we look at the US economy and we look at the European economy, we do see a little bit of a difference.

The US economy, you start to see the

evidence that inflation is coming down, the labor market is starting to loosen a

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