The GfK German consumer confidence reading is lower in April at a level of 10.4, down from 10.7 in March. The drop marks the second monthly drop in a row. The level of the reading in April is the weakest since December 2018. GfK is a [...]
Introducing
Robert Brusca
in:Our Authors
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| Mar 26 2019Germany's Consumer Confidence Is Set to Slip
- Global| Mar 25 2019
IFO Gain Turns Bund Yield Positive But It Won't Turn Lead Into Gold
The IFO diffusion index for March is unchanged. But the current conditions index rose to 29 from 27.3 while the expectations index slid to -9.8 from -8.5. And that mixed and thin gruel was enough for markets to boost the 10-year bund [...]
- Global| Mar 22 2019
EMU PMIs Take Grim Turn for the Worse
If there is a silver lining to the severe weakness in EMU and German manufacturing as exhibited by the Markit flash PMI readings for March, it is that the transmission of weakness to services has been blunted. The chart shows that [...]
- Global| Mar 21 2019
Canadian Growth: Headed for the Big Sleep or Just Dozing?
Canada, like much of the global economy, is showing sales weakness across sectors with its most topical three-month and six-month sales growth rates by sector showing declines. Manufacturing shipments, retail sales - both overall and [...]
- Global| Mar 20 2019
German PPI Falls and the Trend Continues to Deteriorate
While conservative central bankers (pardon the redundancy) continue to worry about the prospect for inflation to surge, global inflation reports continue to undershoot these fears. The latest example of this is in Germany where PPI [...]
- Global| Mar 19 2019
ZEW's Global Assessments Remain Weak
ZEW survey expectations curled higher this month but continued to stake out very weak readings. The average ZEW expectation change (unweighted) for the seven countries/regions in the table is a rise of 9.6 points. Even so, the average [...]
- Global| Mar 18 2019
EMU Trade Surplus Expands on Weak Import Rise
In the EMU, both import and export gains were modest in January. Imports rose by just 0.3% while exports gained 0.8%, expanding the monthly surplus in January to 17.04 billion euros from 16.02 billion euros in December. The surplus [...]
- Global| Mar 15 2019
EMU Inflation Trends Are Still Weak
Headline: The EMU HICP for February gained 0.1%, the same as in January, after a 0.2% decline in December. These price trends signal that moderation remains the name of the game. Inflation is decelerating from an already modest 1.5% [...]
- Global| Mar 13 2019
EMU IP Gains in January; EMU and Global Trends Still Sour
The EMU rebound in IP is touted as stronger than expected with a 1.4% rise in January, compared to an expected 1% increase. Fair enough. But as surprises go, this one does not take you anywhere since the trend lower is still well [...]
- Global| Mar 12 2019
U.K. IP Struggles to Advance
Manufacturing output in the U.K. rose by 0.8% in January after a 0.7% decrease in December and a 0.1% slip in November. On balance, these shifts leave IP with no growth over the last three months. That is an improvement on its six- [...]
- Global| Mar 11 2019
German IP Is Much Weaker Than IP for Most of Europe
Germany shows a 0.8% drop in industrial production (-1.1% for manufacturing) in January. It shows declines over three months, six months and 12 months at rates of decline that are getting progressively larger. Output for German [...]
- Global| Mar 08 2019
German Orders Decline Again
In what has proved to be a ravaging week for markets and for the global economy and many individual forecasts, the German industrial orders series is at risk of getting a 15-yard penalty for piling on. German industrial orders fell by [...]
- of354Go to 111 page