Ireland showed a sharp gain in exports and a particularly explosive gain in imports in February. The import surge comes on the heels of a previous monthly collapse which takes all of the lift out of this latest gain. The sequential [...]
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| Apr 18 2017
Ireland's Trade Trends Struggle to Stabilize
Global| Apr 17 2017
Why Trump Backed Off on Manipulator Tags
Pursuant to the 2015 Act, Treasury in its report has found that no major trading partner met all three criteria for the current reporting period to be named a currency manipulator. Treasury also concludes that no major trading partner [...]
Global| Apr 14 2017
Japan's IP Shows Broad-Based Resurgence
Japan's industrial output has bounced strongly in February, gaining 3.2% after a 2.1% January drop and making gains in two of the last three months. Combined mining and manufacturing output has growth rates skimming along at or above [...]
Global| Apr 13 2017
HICP Prices Zoom Higher Then Reverse
In March, all of the original EMU members have at least reported headline inflation indexes except Austria which is left out of this table. What we see is that, as of March, Germany, the country traditionally running the lowest [...]
Global| Apr 12 2017
Japan's Core Machinery Orders Advance in February
Japan's core machinery orders strip out the large lumpy projects that can dominate the series. The core orders are what's left. That series is up by 1.5% in February, reversing a 3.2% drop in January after a 2.1% increase in December. [...]
Global| Apr 11 2017
Strong Manufacturing PMI but Lethargic IP- What Gives?
A number of analysts have been showing this sort of chart recently or aggregating 'hard data' vs. 'soft data' and showing the divergence. Well, let me ask you something. If I cut you a slice of orange, would you expect it to taste [...]
Global| Apr 10 2017
BoF Index Holds Most of Its Recent Gains; Still BoF Scales Back Its Growth Outlook
The Bank of France cut back its outlook for growth to 0.3% in the first quarter from a previous estimate of 0.4%. Its business index in March fell to 102.6 from 103.7 in February. The February index had jumped to that level from [...]
Global| Apr 07 2017
Germany: Dispelling the Myth of Hard-Data Weakness/Soft-Data Strength?
German industrial output has put in a better-than-expected February with output rising by 2.2% month-to-month, the same as in January. Overall output is now expanding at a robust 9.1% annualized rate two months into Q1... so much for [...]
Global| Apr 06 2017
German Orders Bounce Back in February
Total orders in Germany rose by 3.4% in February, rebounding from a 6.8% drop that followed a monthly rise of 6.1%. Over the past five months, German orders have been chopping up and down month-to-month as orders oscillated between [...]
Global| Apr 05 2017
PMIs Continue Very Strong Across EMU-What Does It Really Mean?
The strength in survey data or 'soft-data economic reports' continues in March as the finalized EMU PMI shows a headline, manufacturing reading and a service sector reading that all are on five-year-plus highs (all of these gauges are [...]
Global| Apr 04 2017
Euro Area Retail Sales Post February Gain
Euro area retail sales advanced by 0.7% in February as overall sales rose by 1.8% year-on-year. Nonfood sales rose by 1.1% year-on-year; they rose by 0.7% month-to-month showing steady acceleration with three-month sales at a pace of [...]
Global| Apr 03 2017
Japan's Tankan Report Picks Up as the Global Rebound Slows
Japan's current Tankan assessment shows pick-up The bellwether in Japan's Tankan report is the large company response particularly for manufacturing concerns. In Q1 2017 and in the outlook for Q2, manufacturers form a strong part of [...]
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