Car sales climb more than 5%. Q1 GDP misses expectations. Infrastructure capex is thriving. Some cracks in the consumer story are showing. Fed Chair Jerome Powell all but takes a 2024 rate hike off the table. It sure feels like the economic and earnings news flow has been especially cacophonous of late.

There’s a lot to be said for zooming out a bit. Rather than sifting through the noise, focusing on the economy’s underlying strength —nowcasts of Q2 growth are settling in around 3% — while making targeted investments sounds like a recipe for relative peace of mind. Case in point: A recent U.S. Bank survey showed only one in six CFOs are negative about the U.S. economy over the next three years.

— Geert De Lombaerde