The graph tells a clear story of what trade trends are up to. Both exports and imports have been losing momentum. The trade surplus has been under a trend of gradual but steady reduction. Year-on-year manufacturing exports are up by [...]
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| Jul 16 2018
EMU Export and Import Growth Both Slow As Surplus Shrinks
Global| Jul 13 2018
French Retail Sales Rebound In June But Do Not Convince
French retail sales rebounded in June after falling for two consecutive months. Gains earlier in the year in the February and March were quite strong, but April brought a deep decline; May sales were lower- but essentially flat- and [...]
Global| Jul 12 2018
EMU IP Makes Strong May Gain
EMU industrial output expands in all sectors in May. All sectors and subsectors in the table gained 1% on the month or more except capital goods where output gained 0.7% month-to-month. Over three months, the rebound is strong with [...]
Global| Jul 11 2018
Portugal Shows Inflation Pressure
Portugal's inflation rate eased to a 0.3% gain in June after a 0.4% rise in May. That increase has the three-month inflation pace rising faster than the six-month pace and also represents a higher three-month pace at 4.4% than the [...]
Global| Jul 10 2018
ZEW Assessments Are Trimmed in July
The ZEW expectations and assessments were cut in July with average percentile standing ranking falling by 1.6 points and with France’s 4.3 point drop and Italy’s lone gain of 1.7 points as the outliers on either side. Apart from [...]
Global| Jul 09 2018
OECD LEIs Are Positive But Have Stopped Rising
The OECD’s LEI markers are on a razor’s edge path. Few of the major country or regional indexes are truly either weak or strong. The indicators cluster on the line of neutrality, failing to give us the comfort we seek in these [...]
Global| Jul 06 2018
German IP Shakes Off Decline with Solid May...But What's Next?
Strong IP gains for Germany German industrial production (IP) is up by a strong 2.6% in May after a 1.3% decline in April. Germany is breaking out of a period in which output gains have lagged. But we will have to watch closely to see [...]
Global| Jul 05 2018
German Orders Rebound But Are Still Falling in Q2
Orders overview: Germany's industrial orders rebounded in May with a 2.6% rise after a 1.6% decrease in April and a string of four straight monthly declines. Domestic orders jumped by 4.3%, nearly recovering April's 4.4% decline. [...]
Global| Jul 03 2018
EMU PPI Very Mixed Trends; Data Show Accelerations on Data Inside One Year...Otherwise Decelerations
The graph shows decelerating year-on-year trends for consumer goods and intermediate goods with capital goods inflation low and essentially flat-lining. However, the table, which looks more at trends at 12-month and less, shows PPI [...]
Global| Jul 02 2018
EMU Unemployment Rate Holds at 8.4%
Unemployment rates have been falling in the EMU. In May, the overall rate has stuck at 8.4%, its lowest mark since December 2008. In the last cycle, the unemployment rate low for the EMU was 7.3%, which it last reached in March 2008. [...]
Global| Jun 29 2018
EMU: Mixed Signals from the HICP; What Will the ECB Do Now?
For the second time in approximately one year, EMU area and large country inflation rates (HICP definition; year-over-year) are pushing up to, through, or over the key 2% mark (the ECB’s inflation objective is for inflation ‘a little [...]
Global| Jun 28 2018
EU Indexes Slip Gradually Lower
The European Commission indexes of economic activity for June continued to erode at the pace of oxidation. In three months the headline index has lost only 0.5 points, but it has declined in each month. Only two of the five sector [...]
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