In December, the HICP headline rate gained only 0.1% and the core gained only 0.1%, both very modest increases. The year-on-year pace of the headline fell to 1.4% from 1.5% previously, obviously not pressuring the ECB to move any [...]
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| Jan 05 2018EMU Inflation Keeps a Low Profile
- Global| Jan 05 2018
U.S. ISM Nonmanufacturing Cools
The monthly snap-shot The ISM nonmanufacturing index receded to 55.9 in December from 57.4 in November. It is at its weakest level since August. Activity cooled in the overall index in terms of activity, new orders, order backlogs, [...]
The services readings and total PMIs are being presented or finalized in the IHS Markit framework. In the EMU, manufacturing and services currently have the same rank or queue standing at their respective 98.6 percentile. In this [...]
- Global| Jan 03 2018
U.K. Industry Continues to Post Solid Results
The Confederation of British Industry orders index flat-lined in December at its all-time high reading over the period since the European Monetary Union was formed. Export orders have moved up strongly as well but they are short of [...]
- Global| Jan 02 2018
China and Asia Lag on Manufacturing Front
Germany, France and all of the EMU are on six-year highs for manufacturing. The EMU reading is at an all-time high from the late-1990s when the series originated. There are very few weak readings in absolute terms even so the strength [...]
- Global| Dec 29 2017
Italian Confidences Hold Strong at Yearend and 2018 Beckons
The Italian bond market sold off in end of year trading as Italian investors began to think ahead to 2018 elections. Silvio Berlusconi is in the news again and extoling the virtues and standing of his party as the main rival to the [...]
- Global| Dec 28 2017
Japan's IP Puts in Another Good Month But Does Not Turn the Trend
Despite another solid month of IP expansion, IP trends in Japan remain under pressure. Sequential growth rates show no clear pattern. Output generally expands fast in Japan over six months that it has over 12-months. But output also [...]
- Global| Dec 27 2017
Spain's Retail Sales Gain But Are a Long Way from Past Levels
It is always good to maintain some perspective. Spain's retail sales are expanding and sequentially accelerating for nominal sales as well as for real sales. But the sense of acceleration is modest, especially for real sales. Two [...]
- Global| Dec 22 2017
German Confidence to Start New Year on a High Note
GfK estimates German confidence for the month ahead. For January 2018, GfK sees a rise in confidence to just short of an all-time high. This only entails a 0.1 tick higher in January. Still, the message is that German confidence, high [...]
- Global| Dec 21 2017
French Manufacturing Index Takes a Small Countertrend Step Back
France's INSEE index shows that the industry climate has backed off in December to a reading of 112.1 from 112.8 in November. Despite the drop, it is still a strong reading. In fact, it is stronger than every reading previous to [...]
- Global| Dec 20 2017
EMU Current Account Surplus Shifts Lower
The EMU current account and trade surpluses contracted in October with the current account falling to 30.8 billion euros from 39.15 billion euros and the trade surplus falling to 19.0 billion euros from 24.5 billion euros. The balance [...]
- Global| Dec 19 2017
Surprising Drop in German IFO Survey- As the World Churns
According to an old expression, 'trees do not grow to the sky.' In that spirit, it can't be 'surprising' that despite strong growth and solid improving conditions in the German economy, the IFO index stepped back this month. Only [...]
- of354Go to 136 page