Japan's consumer confidence index fell for the second month in a row. The confidence reading for May sits in the 48th percentile of its longer historic queue of data back to 1992. The raw reading of 41.4 is itself a diffusion reading [...]
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| Jun 09 2015Japan's Consumer Confidence Takes Small Step Back
- Global| Jun 08 2015
German IP Heads Higher
German capital goods sector turns sharply higher as the rest of IP continues to struggle. Industrial output rose by 0.9% in April after a 0.4% decline in March. Overall IP growth is advancing on all horizons with growth in a 3.4% to [...]
- Global| Jun 05 2015
German Orders Advance
German orders rose for the second consecutive month for the first time since October 2014. The rise was driven by foreign orders which gained 5.5% in April as domestic orders tanked, falling by 3.8% on the month, but that was after a [...]
- Global| Jun 04 2015
Emerging Economies Struggle Along with Everyone Else
The emerging market economies' consolidated PMI fell to 50.7 in May from 51.3 in April, dropping it to a 6th percentile standing in its historic queue of data since 2010. The overall reading's percentile standing is at 6.2% and is [...]
- Global| Jun 03 2015
Services Sector and Total EMU PMI Slip in May
The May EMU finalized PMI fell to 53.6 from 53.9 in April. Germany, Italy and Spain lost momentum. Only France showed improvement of its total PMI in May. The EMU has a queue standing of its overall PMI gauge in the 68th percentile in [...]
- Global| Jun 02 2015
Is Europe Really Gaining Momentum?
Through April, PPI prices in the EMU still are falling, but barely so. Monthly trends across member nations are mixed. The HICP, just reported, showed its first gain in six months, rising 0.3% year-over-year. In April, unemployment is [...]
- Global| Jun 01 2015
EMU Shows Little Manufacturing Momentum
The EMU manufacturing PMI in May edged up to 52.3 from 52.0 in April. The three-month average is barely crawling higher from 12-month to six-month to three-month. EMU momentum is barely identifiable. Germany show the same bare-bones [...]
- Global| May 29 2015
German Retail Sales Rebound in April
With the rebound in sales in April, trends in German retail sales show signs of stabilizing. Both six-month and year-over-year trends are starting to snake sideways at firm rates of growth. The three-month pace is still erratic. Real [...]
- Global| May 28 2015
Momentum in EU/EMU Grinds to a Halt...and Then?
Both the EU and EMU measures of overall sentiment came up flat in May. As the chart shows, momentum in sentiment, after swinging strongly higher at end-2014, has since gone flat. For EMU sectors overall, the industrial sector reading [...]
- Global| May 27 2015
Germany's Consumer Climate Continues to Improve
German consumer climate will advance to 10.2 in in June after logging 10.1 in May. The estimate of climate continues to snake higher in Germany even though its pace has been damped in recent months. The climate reading is at the top [...]
- Global| May 26 2015
U.K. Distributive Trades Survey Shows Growth
On the whole the U.K. retail and wholesaling sectors are doing alright in Q2, but something is missing. The business situation for the U.K. retail sector rose to 20 in Q2 2015 from 11 in Q1. For wholesaling, the business situation [...]
- Global| May 22 2015
German GDP Finalizes Slowdown
German GDP is now finalized. It is up at a 1.1% annual rate in Q1 2015 and at a 1.0% pace year-over-year. Both growth rates represent slowdowns from the previous quarter. Perhaps the most perplexing thing about the German economy is [...]
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