LONDON, Aug 2 (Reuters) - The economic picture may not have to change much for the surprise element to disappear for markets - underlining the significance of this summer's sometimes grudging admissions of investment strategy missteps. SURPRISE, SURPRISEExceptional U.S. economic surprisesU.S. surprise gaps the widest in decades, excluding pandemicAlong with market moves themselves and skewed positioning monitors, the simplest take on the unpreparedness of investors can be seen in economic surprise indices. The global surprise index is close to zero, suggesting expectations for the world economy in aggregate are actually coming in on cue. And if that happens, it may just suck the oxygen from the stellar equity outperformance over bonds to date. If true, markets may find the going harder without that element of surprise.

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Persons: What's, Schroders, Johanna Kyrklund, hasn't, Kyrklund, Chris Iggo, Mike Dolan Organizations: Federal, Nasdaq, Japan's Nikkei, U.S, Graphics, AXA IM Investment, Reuters, Twitter, Thomson Locations: Europe, Japan, China, U.S