Introducing

Robert Brusca

Robert A. Brusca is Chief Economist of Fact and Opinion Economics, a consulting firm he founded in Manhattan. He has been an economist on Wall Street for over 25 years. He has visited central banking and large institutional clients in over 30 countries in his career as an economist. Mr. Brusca was a Divisional Research Chief at the Federal Reserve Bank of NY (Chief of the International Financial markets Division), a Fed Watcher at Irving Trust and Chief Economist at Nikko Securities International. He is widely quoted and appears in various media. Mr. Brusca holds an MA and Ph.D. in economics from Michigan State University and a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan. His research pursues his strong interests in non aligned policy economics as well as international economics. FAO Economics’ research targets investors to assist them in making better investment decisions in stocks, bonds and in a variety of international assets. The company does not manage money and has no conflicts in giving economic advice.

Publications by Robert Brusca

Japan| Jun 12 2025
Japan’s MOF Business Outlook Survey- A Step back But with Optimism
The outlook survey Japan's Ministry of Finance business outlook survey for business conditions among large enterprises registered a decline in the second quarter, posting a -1.9 reading in the current quarter compared to 2.0 in the first quarter and 5.7 in the fourth quarter of 2024. Manufacturing enterprises registered even weaker results with a -4.8 reading in the second quarter, down from -2.4 in the first quarter and compared to +6.3 in the fourth quarter. Even nonmanufacturers in the second quarter logged a negative response at -0.5, compared to +4.1 in the first quarter and +5.4 in the fourth quarter of 2024. These are all responses from large enterprises.

The survey also covers medium and small enterprises; both medium and small enterprises showed negative figures for the second-quarter business conditions. For medium enterprises, the drop was to -0.9 from +0.7 in the first quarter and +3.8 in the fourth quarter. Whereas medium-sized enterprises showed less change with a -12.3 response for the second quarter compared to -12.7 in the first quarter and -4.7 in the fourth quarter. Small enterprises seem to be facing difficulty.

General conditions for the domestic economy in the survey for large enterprises showed a fall off to -6.2 in the second quarter from +3.1 in the first quarter and +4.2 in the fourth quarter. Drop offs were apparent for manufacturing and for nonmanufacturing establishments. Medium-term enterprises showed a similar and sharper drop off and small enterprises saw weakening worsening with the overall negative numbers being posted for the second quarter even weaker than what they registered under business conditions.

On the employment side, large enterprises posted a 26.9 reading in the second quarter, a decrease from the first quarter reading of 28.3, compared to a fourth quarter reading of 27.4. Manufacturers showed flat employment responses; nonmanufacturing enterprises showed weakening responses. Medium and small enterprises both show a pattern of weakening.

The Outlook In addition to the current quarter responses, there are also one- and two-quarter-ahead outlooks provided by the survey. Business conditions for large companies post a +1.5 reading for the quarter ahead and +2.6 for the quarter after that. For medium-sized enterprises, they see a +3.1 reading for the quarter ahead and +3.3 for the quarter after that. Small enterprises log a -5.1 reading for the quarter ahead and -3.8 for the quarter after that.

The readings for the general domestic economy are generally higher than for business conditions for large enterprises. In all cases, the net readings for the general domestic economy for the quarters ahead are better than the assessment for the current quarter (2025-Q2).

One significant caveat here is that the outlook quarter for employment generally shows weaker net readings for the future quarters than for the current quarter -and this is true across the board.

Rankings To understand these assessments better we can look at them as rankings, ranked against their own past responses. The rank standings of the various data across the industry types and various sizes of companies for business conditions shows generally stronger rankings for medium and smaller enterprises than for large ones for the current quarter. Large and medium-sized firms see erosion in conditions looking ahead and farther ahead. But small nonmanufacturing enterprises see conditions firming ahead compared to past responses on this survey.

General domestic economic assessments show weak rankings across the board all below their 50-percentile mark in standing, but all also show improving trends in ranking looking ahead. But the response for small manufacturers even though they obey these same trends, they are extremely weak.

The job market assessments show a rank assessment of 80- and 90- percentile standings across most firms regardless of firm size; the exception is for medium and small manufacturers. But even there while their current quarter standings are below 80%, their outlook remains solid even with a current quarter ranking as low as 41%, small manufacturers get their two quarter ahead employment expectations up into the 80th percentile.
by:Robert Brusca
|in:Economy in Brief
Japan| Jun 11 2025
Japan’s PPI Shows Inflation Slowing
Japan’s PPI in April edged higher, rising by 0.1% month-to-month. For all manufacturing, the PPI stepped back and declined by 0.4% month-to-month. Both of these follow stronger increases in the previous months.

Still, these headline PPI shows a gain of 4.1% over 12 months, an expansion pace of 3.9% annualized over six months and a gain over three months at an annual rate of 3.6%, a steady, but moderate, deceleration for inflation.

Manufacturing prices rose by 2.3% over 12 months and accelerated slightly to an annualized pace of 2.6% over six months before slipping into low gear and rising at just a 1.6% annual rate over three months.

Japan’s CPI also decelerates on this sequential timeline, but with a hump in the middle after accelerating over six months. The U.S. PPI has that same profile. Japan’s core exhibits barebones deceleration; after rising at a 1.6% annual rate over 12 months, it settled into a gain of 1.5% annualized over both three months and six months. Producer prices in the EMU show ongoing declines with a lesser decline over six months, then, a greater pace of decline over three months, at -5.5%.

These comparisons reveal a rather broad-based trend for inflation to ease and weaken, especially over the recent three months.

A big part of inflation going weak over three months is oil prices. Oil prices (Brent) fell by 17.9% in April. They also fell at a 54.4% annual rate over three months, a 25.2% pace over six months, and at 28.2% over 12 months. Falling energy prices, especially if they fall long enough and sharply enough, get into the pricing system and have an impact beyond headline prices. We are seeing that on global basis, right now.

U.S. and EMU PPIs as well as Japan’s PPI and manufacturing prices all show positive correlations ranging from 0.37 to 0.53 with Brent prices with both series expressed as year-on-year percentage changes. Japanese CPI prices, however, show negative correlations between energy prices and headline core inflation rates, -0.15 to -0.37.

One month in the second quarter data show U.S. and PPIs revealing declines in prices along with Japan’s manufacturing price index. In this nascent quarter, Brent prices are edging lower at a 0.2% annualized rate. Still, Japan’s CPI is rising at a 1.4% annual rate and the core at a 1.7% annual rate as Japan’s CPI continues to resist the siren call of lower prices from the Brent index.
by:Robert Brusca
|in:Economy in Brief
Australia| Jun 10 2025
National Australia Bank Survey – One Month Glimmer
The National Australia Bank (NAB) index rose in May after three straight months of declining breaking a string of weakness. However, sequential changes still show declines on balance over 12 months, six months and three months. The level of the current index ranks only in its 32.6 percentile on data back to early 2003. The ranking of the three-month moving average is in its 17.6 percentile and for the 12-month moving average the ranking is in its 20th percentile. The index clearly is weak and it has been weak for a while; however, forward orders suggest that there may be some improvement in train, although that reading too remains with a weak, though improving, ranking.

Bad breadth... The indexes and the components of the Australian index show broad based weakness over three months, six months and 12 months. Over recent months proving characteristics have shifted to be slightly more positive. As in March, 68.8% of the categories showed improvement month-to-month, in April only 18.8% showed monthly improvement while in May over 60% showed improvement. However, the monthly data are in sharp contrast to the sequential data where three-month trends show only 18.8% of the categories improving, only 37.5% improving over six months, and compared to a year ago only 25% are improving. So, the Australian index definitely chronicles a lot more weakness in train despite the fact there may be some hints of improvement or, at least, less weakness, creeping in.

Weak, in a long historic context as well Among the 13 categories in the index, there are only six of them that have queue percentile standings above the 50% mark, a level that indicates they're above their historic medians; three of those firmer observations signal excessive price pressures coming from labor costs, purchase costs, and prices-outright. Interestingly, Australia continues to show exports and export sales as above median despite the hostile global environment with tariffs rising and trade wars threatening Australia also shows an above median reading for capacity utilization.

On balance, the report is not very reassuring although there is an increase in the overall index in May and there are slightly weaker decelerations in the three-month and 12-month moving averages, but those are more cases of less weakness in train than evidence of any outright improvement occurring. The NAB index continues to be a downbeat reading on the Australian business situation although the resilience in the export categories is something of note.
by:Robert Brusca
|in:Economy in Brief
Japan| Jun 09 2025
Economy Watchers See a Glow of Improvement- But Not Much Growth
The economy watchers readings improved broadly, rising month-to-month across 70% of categories in the current index and across all categories in the future index. In sharp contrast, all the current and future readings are lower year-over-year and most of them are lower over six months- all are lower on a six-month average basis- as well as over three months compared to six months.

The month’s strength is widespread as one-month phenomenon, but it clearly comes amid a period when growth has been relentlessly weak. It is not clear that the one-month signal is strong enough to dominate the weak trend.

The levels of the readings are clearly and broadly weak. No future index has a ranking above the 50-percentile mark (above its median) and only one current reading -housing- is above its median, but that is only barely and only for a month and not an average basis.

The future indexes are relatively stronger for corporations, both manufacturing sector and in the nonmanufacturing sector, as well as for eating and drinking places. The services sector has the lowest ratio of the future reading ratio to the current reading.

Despite the ‘pop’ in the reading for this month, the report is hardly upbeat. Japan’s economy seems locked in a weak trend with the current month showing a sigh of life. The question is whether this signal is real and lasting or not. We can’t know that yet.
by:Robert Brusca
|in:Economy in Brief
Germany| Jun 06 2025
German IP Slips
German industrial production (headline series including construction) fell by 1.4% month-to-month in April as a recent see-saw pattern of monthly increases vs. declines is in train back to October. Output declines in the month were distributed across consumer goods, capital goods and intermediate goods.

In addition, construction output fell in April, dropping by 1.5% month-to-month after rising in March and declining in February.

Manufacturing output fell by 1.8% month-to-month in April as real sales also fell by 1.5%, and as real orders for manufactured goods rose in the month by 0.6%.

Sequential trends The sequential trends for IP and its various sectors as well as for orders show unclear trends. Capital goods and intermediate goods show improving trends (from 12-months to 6-months, to 3-months) as output transitions from declines over longer periods to increases over the recent shorter periods. Manufacturing joins that sequence as it also shows a transition from a period of declining output to increases in recent periods. But construction trends remain erratic and the trend for real orders is also chaotic, although it is topped up by a very strong gain over three months. Real sales are on board for the transitional move from declines to sales increases over recent periods. While there is some degree of mixed trends in the data, there are also some traces of an ongoing recovery with improvement in progress. It is still nascent, but the improvement is identifiable and easily recognizable.

Surveys Manufacturing surveys from ZEW, the IFO, and the EU Commission are mixed in their message. The ZEW survey shows a sharp improvement month-to-month. The IFO shows weakening for manufacturing and for manufacturing expectations. The EU commission index shows an improvement month-to-month. Compared to February levels, these same four readings show contrary results. Their sequential signals remain mixed, both in terms of their lack of monotonic signaling as well as in terms of the simpler comparison of the 12-month readings to the 3-month readings. There is simply no clear signal on direction here.

Other Europe Portugal and Norway offer two separate Northern- and South-European signals; both show strongly improving sequential trends. Their month’s performance remains chaotic, but their sequential performance is upward and a clear positive signal.

QTD Quarter-to-date signals (QTD) show mixed results for output-based measures and for real orders in Germany. But the survey data show improvement QTD and the two European readings for Portugal and Norway show gains in progress as well.

Queue standing The queue standing data that ranked performance over a longer profile show most readings with rankings below the 50% mark which in all cases leaves the current reading below its median for this period (data back to 2000), the exceptions with above 50-percentile readings are consumer goods in Germany (54.6%), real manufacturing orders in Germany (66.7%), and Norway (99.6%).

Summing up Despite the month’s step back, there is still evidence that growth and improvement is stirring or trying to stir. Economic performance often is not monotonic and various factors including weather and other unique and temporary factors can interrupt even a solid trend. There is reason to be hopeful that German data still show progress and with the mandate to do more to defend themselves in NATO is also a spur to output we should expect over the coming months.
by:Robert Brusca
|in:Economy in Brief
Global| Jun 05 2025
Composite PMIs Show Some Life- But Still Near Death
The global PMIs for May continue to show a good deal of stability but at relatively weak levels of performance.

There is, in the May report, some difficulty in assessing performance in what always will be a large sample of countries. Here we're looking at 25 countries and each country reports initially 3 values, one for manufacturing, one for services and then a composite reading (a few do only report a composite). In this table, we're looking only at the combined composite reading which as a weighted reading emphasizes the service sector more than the manufacturing sector. Service sectors have come under pressure and at the same time there's been a lot more concern about manufacturing because of tariff policy and because of international sanctions that have been placed on pariah countries particularly Russia for its attack and its ongoing war against Ukraine. There is concern about manufacturing output and trade which is a factor more for goods than for services.

However, it now appears that this long grinding pressure against the goods sector has spilled over into the service sector and that service sectors are behaving much more erratically and performing at lower levels of activity. However, there's a complicated relationship involving goods sectors because U.S. tariff policy that has threatened global trade patterns and possibly the volume of global trade itself. This has also created a situation that has generated leads and lags that may have stimulated manufacturing sectors over the last few months as manufacturers have tried to pump out goods and shove them into countries ahead of expected there are barriers. Tariffs may have provided stimulus.

The initial draconian tariff barriers indicated by the U.S. were largely put into an abeyance, however the U.S. has a more modest 10% tariff in place and more recently a much larger set of tariffs has been imposed on steel and aluminum. I don’t know what ash changed to make U.S. steel a darling of U.S. industry because when I first studied economics back in the 1960s U.S. steel was then a laughingstock of excesses and competitiveness. It may now be the George Floyd poster-boy of U.S. industry.

The United States and China had a certain tariff detente that seemed to be in place; however, it now appears to be challenged. China has been denying access to rare earth exports not just to the U.S. but to European firms as well. This has generated a backlash from the U.S. and a claim that China has not been fairly administering the detente that had been agreed to. In response, China claims that the U.S. was not adhering to policies and among other things pointed to the recent U.S. policy of canceling Chinese student visas to study in the United States. However, in the last day or so, there has been a telephone call between President Trump and Prime Minister Xi and we'll have to see if that leads to any change in these circumstances. Most recently, Donald Trump, who considers himself a skilled negotiator, has said that Xi is a very difficult person to negotiate with. Trump also has run into difficulties with his negotiations with Vladimir Putin who seems to continue to shine on Mr. Trump and then to do none of the things that he promised Trump he would do. So, reality bites.

The comprehensive PMI data show the unweighted average that is just slightly weaker in May than in April; the median is also slightly weaker in May than in April; however, the G7 GDP-weighted reading is higher in May at 51.5 compared to 49.9 in April and the G6 weighting which excludes the U.S. finds an improvement to 49.2 in May compared to 48.9 in April. On a GDP-weighted basis, there does appear to be some progress that might be occurring, but overall based on the unweighted averages and looking at various groupings of countries there still seem to be severe challenges based on the assessments of the PMI.

In addition, the rankings that are presented show that very few of these 25 reporting countries have current readings that are above their medians of the last 4 1/2 years. Only 6 of 25 countries show current ratings that are above their historic medians; among those, Italy is the only large-economy country that's above its median.

The chart plotted for this presentation shows a great deal of confusion in terms of where these various aggregated sector trends are going. The services and the composite indexes are still clearly trending lower, setting aside their particular movements in the last couple of months. Manufacturing that has weaker readings overall, show some life, but some of this may be generated by the leads-and-lags of the tariff process.

Manufacturing may be turning higher on the need for Europe to provide more of its own defense. This requirement should stimulate the manufacturing sector in Europe in the months and years ahead as the U.S. is going to be relying on Europe to provide more of its own security. However, over the long run, spending more money on military goods doesn't seem to be a good way to improve global welfare. We have benefited in recent years from a long period of political stability and demilitarization, but now it looks like that peace dividend is gone and at least there will be some increase in output from the goods sector as a result. But it's hard to paint that overall as a good development.
by:Robert Brusca
|in:Economy in Brief
Global| Jun 03 2025
Unemployment Falls Despite Myriad Tensions
European unemployment is very well-behaved Despite well publicized threats from all corners and all sorts of uncertainty, the unemployment rate in the European Monetary Union (EMU) ticked down to 6.2% in April from 6.3% in March, tying it for its lowest rate since the formation of the monetary union itself. In the broader Economic Union, the unemployment rate remained at 5.9% now; it's just a tick above its low point on the same timeline.

Unemployment remains low Over 12 months the EU unemployment has fallen by 0.1% while the European Monetary Union (EMU) unemployment rate has fallen by 0.2%. This is a period in which the situation in the Middle East has remained hot, the Russia-Ukraine war has dragged on despite efforts by Donald Trump to try to bring both participants in that conflict to the table to talk and to get a negotiated peace, even more prominently, during this time, the United States has been threatening tariffs! Economists have been looking for all kinds of bad things to happen but instead the unemployment rate continues to drop and inflation rates in the United States and in Europe have continued to edge slightly lower.

Are economic concerns overblown? I'm not going to claim that the economic concerns about uncertainty are completely unfounded or that we're not going to have some difficult economic times over tariffs eventually. But the decision by economists to ramp up concerns about uncertainty and how terrible uncertainty is, and how bad it's going to be for our economies, does not seem to be bearing fruit. Economics has moved from the notion that income and prices matter to the notion that income expectations and price expectations matter. We ae now firmly in the land of perceptions and expectations- but maybe we should also keep one foot in the land of reality - the Church of what’s Happenin’ now, as Flip Wilson Once called it in his comedy routine. We're in a period where there's very little going on in terms of policy change, but there's a lot that we expect to happen moving forward although we're not sure precisely what it is. There are concerns about how the tariff negotiations will work out and if there's going to be a trade war; certainly if our countries cannot civilly adjudicate their differences, a trade war will be very bad for the participants. But so far, all the gnashing of teeth about the impact of uncertainty is at the very least whistling past the graveyard.

Ongoing excellent performance Unemployment rates in the European Monetary Union in April fell in seven of the 12 reporting monetary union countries in the table. In March, unemployment rates fell in only one country, in Luxembourg. In February, unemployment rates fell in five of the 12 countries. Over three months, there were unemployment rate declines in five countries with unemployment unchanged in two. Over six months, unemployment rates fell in six countries and unemployment rates were unchanged in two. Over 12 months, unemployment rates fell in six countries. The declines over these broader periods of time seemed to be still, consistently in force.

Strong historic comparisons If we look at the levels of the unemployment rates evaluated since 1994, we find only three monetary union members with unemployment rates above their historic medians in this period. The exceptions are Luxembourg, Finland, and Austria. Including the countries at the bottom of the table that are not monetary union members, the United Kingdom (based on its claimant rate) is also above its historic median. Japan's rate is in its lower 12th percentile and the U.S. is in its lower 25th percentile. EU and EMU rates each rank within their lower five percentile! Altogether, it’s an impressive performance. Look at it. Read the economic/Financial press. Connect the dots- if that is at all possible.
by:Robert Brusca
|in:Economy in Brief
Europe| Jun 02 2025
Little Change Logged for Flash PMIs in May
The months readings are decidedly mixed. Four service sectors report stronger month-to-month and four weaker; manufacturing sectors report three weaker and five stronger. The composite headlines are split four-and-four.

Still, it’s not as if nothing is happening. On data back to January 2021, the average of the composite ranked in May has a 35-percentile standing – still below its median on the period. Services have slipped with a 28-percentile ranking well into the bottom one-third ranking position. Manufacturing has been rehabilitating despite the Russia-Ukraine war and the Trump tariffs, as the sector has an above median 60.4 ranking on its average reading.

On an individual country basis, the EMU, Germany, France, the United States, Australia, and India – all reporting countries except the United Kingdom and Japan show manufacturing PMI rank standings above their respective medians (above a ranking of 50%). But only Japan and India show service sectors with rankings above their respective medians and only India has a composite standing above its median on this timeline. And India is an exception with extremely high rankings across sectors.

The monthly average shows very little change from March to April to May. The composite and services readings get slightly weaker while manufacturing gets marginally stronger moving up from 49.9 in March to 50.5 in May- hardly a rocket shot. Similarly, there is little change from the 12- month to six-month to 3-month averages. Looking at 3-months to 12-months, the composite weakens from 51.6 to 51.2, manufacturing improves from 48.8 to 49.6 and services weaken from 52.4 to 51.3.

There is a great deal of grumbling about policy and U.S. tariff threats, but so far there is little evidence of impact. I’m sure there will be impact, but I am not as persuaded that ‘uncertainty’ ‘per se’ is the bogeyman everyone else wants to make it out to be. It can be an issue. But I expect Trump to resolve these issues so that the main impact I expect is the impact from the deals he makes.
by:Robert Brusca
|in:Economy in Brief
Global| May 30 2025
Global Monetary REFLATION
Global monetary reflation is once again underway. The United States, the European Monetary Union, and the United Kingdom are all our participants; Japan is the country going its own way continuing to tighten and to restrict policy through disciplined and tightening monetary growth.

Reflation afoot Among the other three countries that are showing monetary stimulus, the U.K. is leading the way with the sterling M4 growth rate up to 7.6% at an annual rate over three months. The U.K. data lag other data in the table; they're not up to date through April; still, the acceleration is quite apparent over three months. Over 12 months, U.K. money growth is 3.5%, U.S. money growth is 4.4%, and the European Monetary Union money growth rate is 3.6%. The annual numbers still represent reflation increases in the annual growth rates compared to where they have been in the last three years, although none of the year-over-year growth rates really look like they are yet excessive compared to inflation targeting plans and likely GDP growth rates. However, this is definitely a transition to reflation. The question is whether it will be tempered at the right point.

EMU trends In the European Monetary Union, the two-year growth rate and the three-year growth rates for money are under 2% while the 12-month growth rate is up to 3.6%. Monetary Union growth rate of real money balances is up over three months at 2.3% at an annual rate and at 1.5% over 12 months. European credit growth is picking up, as well, with private credit growth running at a 2.5% annual rate over three months and at a 2.3% pace over 12 months; in real terms, private credit growth year-over-year, however, is only 0.2%.

U.S. trends In the United States, money growth is up to 6.5% at an annual rate over three months, money growth has progressed from averaging 0.2% over three years, to 2.7% over 2 years, and now to 4.4% over 12 months. U.S. nominal money growth clearly is accelerating. Looking at the growth of real balances in the U.S., the real money stock is growing at a 4.9% annual rate over three months and at 2.1% at an annual rate over 12 months.

U.K. trends In the United Kingdom, there is that 7.6% three-month growth rate that compares to 3.5% over 12 months and to slower growth over 2 and 3 years. Real balance money growth is at a 3.3% annual rate over three months; over 12 months, the U.K. growth rate for real money balances is flat! While the U.K. seems to be in a period of relatively sharp acceleration for money growth, it's not yet a long-lived period of expansion, and so that has not yet had much impact on actual inflation developments. But the jack-rabbit start to monetary acceleration is something to be wary of.

Japan trends In Japan, M2 plus CD's is falling at a 2% annual rate over three months, and rising at only a 0.4% in an annual rate over 12 months. That represents a lower growth rate than its two-year or three-year growth rate for the money stock. In terms of real money balances, over three months Japan's real balances are shrinking at a 3% annual rate, the same as the 12-month growth rate. Japan clearly is using monetary policy to squeeze inflation lower.

Oil Disinflation efforts have been helped everywhere by oil prices that are falling in dollar terms at a 48.3% annual rate over three months and falling at a 24.6% annual rate over 12 months.
by:Robert Brusca
|in:Economy in Brief
Italy| May 29 2025
Italian Confidence Rises/Stabilizes in May
Italian consumer and business confidence both rose in May. Consumer confidence rose sharply following a sharp drop in April; the main confidence level brings it back up above the level for March. Business confidence has been relatively stable; after a slight slouch in April, business confidence is back up and it too is slightly above its level for March. However, consumer confidence in Italy continues to be relatively firm relative to European standards. While consumer confidence in Germany is extremely low, Italy’s consumer confidence has a 70.7 percentile standing on data back to January 2006; Italian business confidence is much weaker with a 23.7 percentile standing. Italian consumers are feeling solidly but moderately confident while Italian businesses appear to be experiencing a great deal of anxiety. However, for Italian businesses while the level of anxiety may be high, a reading of 86.5 for confidence in May is the same as its average over the last 12 months.

The Past 12 Months Consumer confidence in Italy finds an improvement in the overall situation over the last 12 months, with a reading of -69 in May compared to -80 in April. Price trends over the last 12 months have a reading of 20.5 compared to 16 one month ago, showing that inflation pressures have increased. The household financial situation over the last 12 months was only slightly stronger than what it had been in April and continued at its 12-month average. On balance, the standing for these three readings over the last 12 months is between their 61st and 77th percentiles in terms of rankings; that means all of them are above their historic medians and moderately firm.

Currently The current situation finds household savings slightly better off in May compared to April, and the environment for making major purchases also improves to a reading of 33 compared to 31.5 in April. The major purchase reading is slightly above its 12-month average while the savings reading is slightly below. The ranking for the savings metric is in its lower 21-percentile while the ranking for the major purchase response is in its 66.8 percentile, a moderately positive and stable reading.

The Outlook Turning to the outlook for the next 12-months, the overall situation assessment improved to a -20 reading from -26 in April, putting it back at the same level it had in March and leaving it below its 12-month average as well as at a low rank-standing at its 10th percentile. That’s a far cry from what it had been over the past 12 months. Price trend eased after spiking a month ago and are below their March reading but above their 12-month average and with an 87.1 percentile standing. Inflation concerns clearly linger. Unemployment expectations in May are back to their 12-month average and nearly at their historic median on a ranking of 49.1%. Carrying the confidence readings higher, the household budget and planned purchase responses both rose in May and are above their respective 12-month averages with a budget ranking at its 97.4 percentile and a planned-purchase ranking at its 94.8 percentile. These are very strong reading components in the outlook measure.

The future savings reading stepped lower in May and is below its 12-month average, but it has a queue percentile standing in its 80.6 percentile and remains strong despite some monthly erosion.
by:Robert Brusca
|in:Economy in Brief
Germany| May 28 2025
German Confidence for June Shows Continuing Small Uptick
Germany has some degree of improvement and revival underway that has lasted for three months running on its headline GfK index. The degree of improvement monthly has been small, and the pace of improvement is slow. Economic expectations have improved for four months running, marking more improvement than for the GfK headline (GfK components lag the headline by one month). Income expectations have improved for three months running, marking some steady moderate-sized improvements. The propensity to buy has also logged a couple of monthly improvements but its recent observation for May shows a step back to -6.4 from -4.9 in April, ending its short winning streak.

Percentile standings The levels of these monthly variables show a weak headline with a standing in its 12.9 percentile historically, on data back to 2002. The component rankings fare better, with the economic expectations response above its historic median at a standing in its 65.1 percentile. Income expectations are rising and closing in on their own median (median of ranked data occurs at a ranking of 50%) with a standing in its 46.8 percentile. However, the propensity to buy index continues to lag with a standing at the one-third of queue mark, at its 33.1 percentile.

Other countries The table also presents data for consumer confidence for Italy, France, and the United Kingdom; the former two are fellow members of the Economic Union, and members of the EMU (U.K. is a former EU member). These reading lag, more like the components of the GfK survey. For Italy, the lag is larger, at two months. Italian confidence shows ongoing erosion with the current reading at a rank standing of 59.8 percent, above its historic median on the same timeline as for GfK in Germany. The French confidence reading shows signs of recent slippage and presents a monthly value with a standing at its 37.9 percentile. Italy, France, and the U.K. all reached recent local lows around August 2022 and have since mounted more or less synchronous rebounds. During this period, the Italian rebound was stronger. But the rebounding has largely ended and now the consumer indexes in Italy, Frane, and the U.K. are rolling over giving into weakness. And this is at a time that the Germany survey generally is strengthening – albeit mildly.
by:Robert Brusca
|in:Economy in Brief
Europe| May 27 2025
EU Indexes Small Rebound in May; Still Weak
Since mid-2023 there has been little change in the level of the EU indexes for the largest EMU economies. There has been slightly more fading for Germany, but then it has showed some revival over the past six months bringing it back into line. There is no clear evidence in these surveys that the U.S. tariff policy is having a major effect. But there is some inferential evidence from the drop in overall EMU consumer confidence although the results are still erratic across reporting countries. The economic situation for the next 12 months in the consumer survey is weaker since early-2025 and unemployment expectations have also risen. There is no discernible impact on consumers’ plans to make a new major purchase in the survey.

Overall sentiment and sector readings Eight of eighteen reporting countries in the EMU have step-backs in their sentiment assessments in May. That compares to eleven stepping back in April and ten in March.

The overall EMU sentiment gauge improves in May to 94.8 from 93.8 in April, but it is still below the March level of 95.1. For all of the EMU, the industrial sector improves in May, along with consumer confidence and retailing sentiment. Construction and services readings were unchanged month-to-month.

Rankings by sector show only retailing and construction above their historic medians on data since 1990. The overall reading as well as the industrial reading, consumer confidence, and services all have rankings below their respective 30th percentiles. Consumer confidence is weakest among the sectors attaining only its 18.6 percentile, but at a standing in its 22.4 percentile, services are not far behind.

There is no evidence of a hammer blow from the tariffs or of any revival since the tariff threat was launched then lessened. We look for some stimulus from the added need for Europe to carry more of its own defense burden. There is a directive to Europe from the U.S. to take care of more of its own NATO defense. So far, only the German industrial sector shows any sign of improving.
by:Robert Brusca
|in:Economy in Brief