After looking at all the monetary stimulus and special lending programs that the ECB has unleashed then turning to look at these charts, you have to wonder if money even matters. Clearly to some, such a statement is anathema. But such [...]
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 28 2016Euro Area Money Supply and Credit Growth Are Not Behind the Excitement
- Global| Nov 25 2016
Italian Economy Weakens Ahead of Italian Referendum
Italy is showing some weakening economic trends ahead of its early December referendum. And while everyone is still buzzing about Brexit and the Trump election in the U.S., the Fed continues to talk of potential Brexit risks as though [...]
- Global| Nov 23 2016
Euro Area PMI Hits Year's High
EMU PMIs make a push for the mediocre levels of readings that prevailed earlier in this cycle. The EMU is improving and the very weak readings of 2016 are being put behind it. Still, there is a long way to go to reach true normalcy [...]
- Global| Nov 22 2016
U.K. Industrial Orders Strengthen in an Unimpressive Way
Despite the ongoing weakness in the British pound sterling, U.K. industrial orders are 'losing ground.' However, at -3 the net balance for November is much better than last month's -17 and better than the series 12-month average of [...]
- Global| Nov 21 2016
CFNAI Diffusion Index Weakens in October
The CFNAI Diffusion Index weakened in October, declining to -0.35 from September's -0.16, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. The components of the index all show weakness relative to trend except for the employment [...]
- Global| Nov 21 2016
Japan's Trade Trends Edge Toward Improvement
Japan's surplus is back in business and has given 12 positive readings in the last 12 months, making the return to surplus look like a lasting event. Japan's surplus position continues to make steadily higher despite the closure of [...]
- Global| Nov 18 2016
Euro Current Account Surplus Withers But Remains Large
The trends still largely tell the story as the EMU trade and current account deficits relative to GDP are massive and still trending higher. In September, the current account deficit for the EMU-19 fell to 25.3 billion euros from 29.1 [...]
- Global| Nov 16 2016
U.K. Claimant Count Ticks Higher As Slow Erosion Begins to Kick In
The U.K. claimant count ticked higher as the claimant rate of unemployment remained stuck at 2.3%. The change in the number unemployed crept slightly higher in October. The net increase in claimants over three months was 25.2K [...]
- Global| Nov 15 2016
Euro Area GDP Plods Ahead
GDP growth plods ahead in the EMU in Q3 2016. Its 1.4% annualized quarterly pace beats the Q2 pace of 1.2%, but year-on-year the growth rate stays at 1.6%. Mixed results Quarter-to-quarter, there are slowdowns logged in Germany, [...]
- Global| Nov 14 2016
Euro Area IP Falls in September; Year-on-Year Gain Slows
While manufacturing PMIs have stabilized and showed some growth in the EMU, the industrial production index is lower in September and has fallen in two of the last three months. IP is up on balance over 12 months, but the last 12 [...]
- Global| Nov 11 2016
German Inflation Picks Up; Is It for Real?
The graph (on the left) is most useful for the discussion of whether inflation's rise is 'real' or not. The graph clearly shows that Germany's headline inflation is surging, rising from the ashes of declines to log an advance of 0.9% [...]
- Global| Nov 10 2016
Japan's Machinery Orders Falter As a New World Paradigm Emerges; The End of 'Business As Usual'
Japanese machinery orders rose in September after falling for two months in a row. Core orders excluding large projects, like ships and electric power projects, showed a drop of 3.3% month-to-month, their second straight monthly drop. [...]
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