All the indicators for China's manufacturing sector remain listless in December. For those of you driven by literalism, China's manufacturing sector has ‘grown' in each of the past two months as its manufacturing PMI stands above 50 [...]
Introducing
Robert Brusca
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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
Global| Dec 31 2019China's Manufacturing Claws Its Way to Meager Gains and the Road Ahead
- Global| Dec 27 2019
Japan's Activity Gauges Paint a Picture of Withering Growth or Worse
Japans' retail sales rebounded but only part way after a horrific decline in the wake of its consumption tax hike. On October 1, the government raised the consumption tax from 8% to 10%. While retail sales had risen by 7.2% in [...]
- Global| Dec 26 2019
Japan's Housing Starts and Orders Fall As BOJ Undershooting Continues
Japan's housing starts fell for the second month in a row in November. With a shirking population, housing is not the vibrant industry it once was. The housing market was impacted in the global recession, but it did recover from [...]
- Global| Dec 23 2019
German Export Prices Remain Weak
German export prices remain weak over current months as well as over 12 months. German import prices show some lift in November and over three months, but they are lower on balance over 12 months. Export and import prices excluding [...]
- Global| Dec 20 2019
Italian Confidence Rebounds Against a Declining Trend and Changing Global Environment
Both business and consumer confidence made moves higher in Italy in December to send the year out on a more hopeful note. Both series are embroiled in declining phases going back to late-2017 or early-2018. Business confidence has [...]
- Global| Dec 19 2019
U.K. Retail Sales Post Surprise Drop
U.K. nominal retail sales are lower by 0.5% in November, marking their fourth straight decline month-to-month. With Brexit and a national election facing British citizens, they have been a bit slow on the uptake of Christmas spirit. [...]
- Global| Dec 18 2019
German IFO Assessment and Expectation Improve
The IFO climate gauge improved to -0.5 in December from -1.5 in November. This improvement pushed the percentile standing to its 50.4 percentile in December from the 47.1 percentile previously, in November. Still, the ranking over the [...]
- Global| Dec 17 2019
Car Registrations in Europe
Car registrations in Europe show somewhat mixed trends in November. Year-over-year sales are rising for three months in a row in this highly volatile and hard to seasonally adjust series. But the recent months' trends are much more [...]
- Global| Dec 17 2019
Has Europe's Trade Trend Turned?
Europe's trade trend this month but is it sustainable? Two aspects of the EMU trade trend are notable. One is that exports are accelerating. And export acceleration applies to manufactured exports and pretty-much to nonmanufacturing [...]
- Global| Dec 16 2019
European PMIs Remain Lethargic
PMIs continue to strike a weak note. In December, manufacturing flash PMIs are overwhelmingly weak and registering contraction. Service sector gauges are weak across the board and show declines episodically in December. The queue [...]
- Global| Dec 13 2019
Friday 13 of December 2019: An unlucky day for Japan's Tankan
Japan's Tankan report has been a closely watched and key indicator of Japan's economy for some time. The manufacturing barometer, which is considered the bellwether of this index, fell to zero in Q4 2019 from 5 in Q3. That drop marks [...]
- Global| Dec 12 2019
EMU Area IP Sinks Again As Inflation Undershoots
As disappointing as this news is, it comes on a day with a more cheerful note. Germany's IFO has declared that the downward spiral in German industry is over and that it now expects stabilization and growth. That is something to look [...]
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