Recent economic data has been poor and surprised to the downside. The Citigroup Economic Surprise Index for the United States (which essentially measures the positive or negative level of actual economic data to estimated survey data) has plunged and now sits at the lowest level in two years and near the lowest level ever recorded.There are many reasons for this weakness in economic activity and the slowing in global growth. First, Japan is back in a technical recession not wholly unexpected as post-earthquake economic data suggests there is a severe interruption in its manufacturing sector and supply chain. This has disrupted the global supply chain in various ways and effected manufacturing significantly. Honda Motor said that its US production of small cars, for example, is running at just 50 percent of capacity.Second, China’s aggressive monetary tightening to combat its inflationary issues has appeared to work. Import growth has been slowing along with manufacturing activity which suggests demand growth is softening somewhat. Since a great deal of the rise in commodity prices can be attributed to the tremendous growth in China, fears of a hard landing led to a significant pullback in commodity prices and risky assets in general in May.In fact, inflation-fighting measures undertaken by many emerging market economies do increase the probability of a soft patch for the global economic expansion as slowing in these developing regions may not be able to overcome the weak cyclical recoveries being exhibited by developed economies.Third, US economic data is faltering. A surge in gasoline prices has effected consumption. Higher gasoline prices tend to crimp consumer spending. Weekly gasoline prices in the United States as surveyed by the US Department of Energy, surged to peak at $4.20 per gallon in May. This “tax” on consumption may be abating somewhat but the price to fill your car up in the US is still 42 percent higher than a year ago.Furthermore, manufacturing in the US also slowed dramatically, home prices have continued to fall, and the recent job reports have been weaker than anticipated.Fourth, the euro area debt crisis refuses to go away (or rather the politicians refuse to come up with a “real” solution). Moody’s Investors Service cut Greek debt to Caa1 from B1 with a negative outlook. In a statement the rating agency said “Greece is increasingly likely to fail to stabilise its debt ratios within the timeframe set by previously announced fiscal consolidation plans.”In my opinion, Greece will default. It is simply a matter of when, not if. A default in Greece would not be catastrophic for Europe but it would certainly set back the banking sector and elevate the risk of contagion amongst the other peripheral countries.As a result of these factors, May saw commodities down 5.6 percent, the Morgan Stanley World Composite Index (MSCI) closed the month down 2.4 percent and 10-year Treasury bonds posted a gain of roughly 2.5 percent with yields falling below three percent.The good news is that many of these factors may prove to be temporary and this is indeed not a “double dip” nor a relapse into a new prolonged downtrend. Business and consumer spending in the US continue to expand, albeit at a slower pace.Japan is slowly rebuilding and this in itself should promote an economic rebound. The inflation fighting in the emerging markets may be slowing which would promote renewed growth overseas and the new deal being brokered in Europe may delay the Greek fiasco until at least 2013. This weakness may persist over the summer but it would appear, at least at this stage that it is a soft patch and growth will resume even if it does so at a slower rate.Nathan Kowalski is the chief financial officer at Anchor Investment Management. He holds a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and Chartered Accountant (CA) designation.