Rarely do inventory data ever tell a clearer story of an upturn in progress than they do in January 2017. The chart tells the first story. Sales are accelerating sharply. The growth in sales surges to and past the growth rate of [...]
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 15 2017Inventories Tell the Story of a Real Upturn in Progress
The U.K. claimant count continues to drift lower from already low readings. The U.K. ILO unemployment rate has fallen to 4.7% (as of December), marking its lowest sojourn since 1975 a better than 40-year low and besting the Germans [...]
- Global| Mar 14 2017
German ZEW Index Shows Modest Improvement
The German ZEW reading showed a modest improvement in expectations in March, rising to a reading of 12.8 from February's 10.4. However, it continues to reside below its median. Only the U.S. among countries in the table has an [...]
- Global| Mar 13 2017
Japan's Service Sector Index Comes Up Flat As Core Orders Fall
Japan is hardly firing on all cylinders these days. Its overall business activity index for January is still not finalized since the construction sector has not reported for January. However, I indicate in the table that the overall [...]
- Global| Mar 10 2017
French IP and Manufacturing PMI Show Some Weakening
French industrial production fell unexpected in January, marking the second decline in IP in a row. Coming at a time when the Markit survey for manufacturing has been going up, that result was quite unanticipated. But once again, it [...]
- Global| Mar 09 2017
Bank of France Business Indicator Continues to Move Strongly Higher
Index traces out pattern of strength The Bank of France business indicator moved up to 103.9 in February from 101.7 in January. The index extends its tendency since early 2016 to show ongoing business sector improvement. In the wake [...]
- Global| Mar 08 2017
German IP Holds to Expansion Path
German IP advanced in January despite Germany having reports a very sharp decline in new orders yesterday. Of course, orders and output are connected with more than a one-month lag. But output is showing signs of fatigue. The IP gain [...]
- Global| Mar 07 2017
German Orders Crash and Burn in January
German orders plunged by 7.4% in January despite a series of very upbeat economic reports recently especially those featuring the use of diffusion indexes. As I have pointed out before, I do like diffusion indicators as they are [...]
- Global| Mar 06 2017
What the EMU PPI Performance Tells Us About Regional Integration Or Chateaubriand for 19, Please
PPI trends for the EMU show ongoing inflation acceleration as oil prices work their way through the system. Capital goods and consumer goods show a much more muted profile than intermediate goods where oil enters the picture more [...]
- Global| Mar 03 2017
Car Sales Continue to Gain As EMU Retailing Dithers
European retail sales continue to struggle. While there has been optimism about Europe from its PMI data, retail sales simply tell a different story. The PMI data that Markit released today has filled out the European readings for [...]
- Global| Mar 02 2017
BUBA on a Hot Tin Roof
Inflation in the EMU, in any of its largest four economies, overall inflation, core inflation, or in Germany, inflation excluding energy is accelerating. The 12-month pace exceeds the previous year's 12-month pace, the six-month pace [...]
What jumps out at you in the table of manufacturing PMIs ranked on their performance since January 2012 is the abject weakness in Mexico. The chart at the top shows that the Mexican manufacturing PMI is moving opposite to the U.S. and [...]
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