The global economy is doing something it hasn’t done in 7 years

All the major economies of the globe and the companies that make them up are picking up steam at the same time right now, the first such simultaneous recovery in years.

This is making the phrase “global synchronous recovery” among the favorites of bulls on Wall Street.

“We expect all the major markets to report healthy EPS growth in 2017. That’s the first synchronized upturn since 2010,” wrote Robert Buckland, chief global equity strategist at Citi Research, in a note Tuesday.

“That’s a big change compared to recent years, when we had various regions and countries moving in and out of EPS recessions,” he added.

Along with earnings growth, the major markets will see decent economic growth this year as well that will carry over into next year, Citi estimates. The research analysts forecast global GDP growth of 3.1 percent this year and 3.3 percent next year.

“This eight-year global bull market may be old, but we don’t think it is finished,” Buckland wrote. They forecast a 9 percent return for global stocks over the next 12 months and favor technology, energy and banking stocks.

Major equity markets have already posted strong performances for the year in response to this synchronous recovery. In the U.S., the S&P 500 has gained 8.4 percent in 2017, while the pan-European Stoxx 600 index and the Japanese Nikkei 225 index have advanced 5.9 percent and 5.1 percent, respectively.

Emerging markets, meanwhile, have outperformed developed markets, with the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets exchange-traded fund (EEM) surging more than 17 percent this year.

The global synchronous recovery was also mentioned Wednesday in a report on commodities from UBS.

Lachlan Shaw, an analyst at UBS, pointed out in the note that purchasing managers’ indexes “across key economies are synchronized and strong” and that backs up the firm’s overweight position in the commodities sector.

The chart below illustrates the manufacturing PMIs for the U.S., euro zone, France, the U.K., Japan, Germany, Italy and China from June 2007 to June 2017.