Although household confidence was last higher eight and one-half year ago, it was exactly this high back in January of this year. Viewed on a much broader horizon, the current confidence readings sit only at the 50.8th percentile 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| May 27 2016French Consumer Confidence Last Higher Eight and One Half Years Ago
- Global| May 26 2016
Italian Retail Sales Fall in March Amid Other Signs of Weakness
Weak march; weak trends Recent Italian data have been backtracking...big time. Today's retail sales report shows that nominal sales fell by 0.6% in March with real retail sales down by 0.8%. This is the first drop in real retail sales [...]
- Global| May 25 2016
Germany Snaps Back- Bazinga Europe: You Don't!
Month-to-month the German Ifo gauge of industry has snapped back with its headline metric rising to 8.5 in May from 6.4 in April. The business situation index has advanced to 17.1 from 15.3. Expectations reversed course to rise to 0.2 [...]
- Global| May 24 2016
Germany: ZEW Expectations Step Back
Unexpected step back for ZEW forward-looking metric The German ZEW index in May saw its expectations indicator fall sharply while the current index moved higher. The current reading is quite strong as it is stronger only 18% of the [...]
- Global| May 23 2016
Euro Area PMI Weakens As the Fed Rattles Its Policy Saber
Conditions and patterns vary across EMU-somewhat by size The EMU region seems to be a story of `rich getting richer and poor getting poorer.' Both France and Germany have seen their composite PMI gauges rise in May. They are the two [...]
- Global| May 20 2016
German PPI Drops with Upward Pressure Mounting and a Mixed Future
The German PPI (ex-construction) fell by 0.2% in April, returning to its declining ways after a flat performance in March. PPI declines are still in force even as oil prices are rising strongly. Brent rose by 18% in March and by an [...]
- Global| May 19 2016
U.K. Retail Sales Snap Back
U.K. retail sales snapped back in April, rising by 0.9% after falling by 0.7% in March. However, over three months, sales are still falling at a 2.6% annual rate, a clear deceleration from their steady nominal path of 1.2% or so over [...]
- Global| May 18 2016
Here We Go Again...EMU Inflation Trends Head Lower
EMU headline prices fell by 0.2% year-on-year. Core inflation registered a gain below 1% at 0.8%, and the trends for inflation are largely lower. Has the monetary game changed or is it the same-old same-old game that the ECB has [...]
- Global| May 17 2016
Euro Area Trade Flows Implode! Egad!
Are EMU exports and imports the brothers Grim? It's a grim picture that trade has painted in this month's EMU trade report. Yes, for the EMU, the result is `positive' as the trade surplus is getting even larger. At 22.3 billion euros, [...]
- Global| May 16 2016
Japan's Retail Trends Remain Weak
Japan's retail sales rose by a seasonally adjusted 1.5% in March as NSA nominal sales fell sharply. Seasonally adjusted sales are falling fast over three months and six months as well as declining over 12 months. The speed of the [...]
- Global| May 13 2016
Euro Area GDP Growth Takes Slight Downward Revision
Euro area GDP was revised down from a quarterly gain of 0.6% to a gain of 0.5%. The annualized rise is presented in the table at 2.1%. We also show year-over-year results for the last four quarters. The final column ranks each unit's [...]
- Global| May 12 2016
Euro Area IP Falls for the Second Month in a Row
EMU economic data continues to show spotty results. Industrial production for the euro area in March is now tabulated, showing a drop of 0.8%. Output is still higher in the quarter even after two straight months of IP declines because [...]
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