Not only is the EMU current account at surplus an all-time record of 37.8 billion euros (all-time means since the area was formed in January 1999) but that surplus has been stubbornly large. And that is a symptom of something bad. We [...]
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| Nov 17 2017Euro Area Current Account Surplus Hits An 'All-time' Record
- Global| Nov 16 2017
EMU Inflation Stays Down
The chart does a good job of showing what inflation has been up to in the euro area. Inflation troughed in early-2016 after making a brief and deeper but shorter-lived trough a year earlier. In the wake of the recession/financial [...]
- Global| Nov 15 2017
Euro Area Trade Surplus Jumps to New Record!
The euro area trade surplus jumped sharply in September, reaching its maximum surplus since the euro area was formed at 25.044 billion euros. The EMU current account surplus as a percentage of GDP reached 2.67% in Q2, the most recent [...]
- Global| Nov 08 2017
French Deficits Widen But Do No Harm
In September, French exports barely nudged ahead as imports gained 1.2% expanding the trade deficit to 6.4 billion euros from 5.9 billion euros in August. On a broader timeline, imports have been outpacing exports since early-2016 on [...]
- Global| Nov 07 2017
Setback for German IP But Trends Are Sill Solid
Despite growing optimism about European growth and the prospects for the ECB to continue its easing scale back, output growth in Germany fell in September and has dropped in three of the last four months. This period of weakness was [...]
- Global| Nov 06 2017
New Orders Rise Again in Germany As EMU Service Sector Slows
Germany's new orders rose by 1% in September with foreign orders gaining 1.7% and domestic orders slipping by 0.1%. Even so, domestic real orders rose to a point approximately level with orders before the start of the financial crisis [...]
- Global| Nov 03 2017
Asia PMIs Are Not Upbeat
Asia PMIs are not doing as well as the PMIs of the economies in the West at the moment. Front and center is China with a total PMI that has slipped from a modest 51.4 reading in September to a 51.0 reading in October. China's [...]
The U.S. nonmanufacturing ISM index has moved even higher in October and this is one report that shows no impact whatsoever from hurricane damage. In fact, in September the nonmanufacturing index moved even more sharply higher from [...]
- Global| Nov 02 2017
Japan's Consumer Confidence Claws Its Way Higher; Can It Continue?
Dots represent quarterly confidence points; the line connects dots since the report has become monthly. Japan's consumer confidence moved up to 44.5 in October form 43.9 in September. It was last stronger in September 2013. And then [...]
- Global| Nov 01 2017
Manufacturing PMIs Show Some Slowing in October
Of the 18 countries/regions in the table, 13 showed weaker readings in October than in September. However, only Mexico and Malaysia logged a manufacturing sector reading below 50 (indicating an outright contraction in output). There [...]
- Global| Oct 31 2017
EMU GDP: Settles Into Growth Path
From the end of 2012, EMU year-on-year real GDP has been gradually accelerating. In Q2 2015, it reached a growth rate of 2.0%. Then it slipped slightly below 2% for the next four quarters. In 2017 the 2% growth rate was back and has [...]
- Global| Oct 30 2017
EU Commission Indexes Climb But Slow Their Rate of Ascent
The EU commission indexes are still rising with gains posted in each of the sector or special function indexes in October. Retailing gained three points month-to-month; construction gained two points; the industrial and service [...]
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