Industrial output's trend slowed in April, as output fell by 0.6% following a 2% spurt in March. Utilities' output fell sharply by 5.2% after a 0.3% gain in March. Mining output continues to be strong, slowing to a 1.4% gain after a [...]
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 15 2014IP Drops, Trend Still strong; But Does That Matter?
- Global| May 15 2014
Q1 GDP Release Ends Land of Make-Believe
The euro area put in a disappointing performance in the first quarter of 2014 as GDP is only rising at a 0.8% annual rate. Among the early reporters, GDP declined in Portugal, dropped sharply in the Netherlands, fell in Italy and fell [...]
- Global| May 14 2014
EMU IP Shows Growth But Also Its Weak Side
Industrial production momentum in the euro area has been short-circuited in March. Industrial production excluding construction fell by 0.3%. Combined with a decline in January, the three-month growth rate logs a -0.8% annual rate. [...]
- Global| May 13 2014
ZEW Expectations Step Back Sharply
The ZEW survey of current conditions and expectations for May is producing striking results. While the current index continues to show improvement rising to 62.1 in May from 59.5 in April and 51.3 in March, expectations have been cut [...]
- Global| May 12 2014
French Outlook Is Trimmed
The Bank of France survey backtracked in April, falling to a value of 97.83 from March's 98.89. The index has a percentile standing in its historic range of 38.4%; it is weaker than its April standing only about 38% of the time. The [...]
- Global| May 09 2014
Japan's LEI Shows Sharp Drop
Japan's leading economic indicator fell to 106.5 in March from 108.7 in February. The indicator is now declining at a 19.1% annual rate over three months and a 6.8% annual rate over six months. Over 12 months the index is crawling [...]
- Global| May 08 2014
Is German IP Growth Topping?
German industrial production surprisingly fell by 0.5% in March. The drop follows a 0.6% gain in February and, while substantial, still allows strong growth in the first quarter. In the just-completed quarter to date, industrial [...]
- Global| May 07 2014
German Foreign Orders Drop Unexpectedly
German orders fell by 2.8% in March, an unexpected drop. The decline comes after a 0.9% gain in February and a small 0.1% increase in January. On balance, the weakness is severe enough to drive the three-month annualized growth rate [...]
- Global| May 06 2014
Markit PMIs Show that Expansion Presses Onward
The services sector surveys for European economies and the US are completed today, allowing us to calculate total private sector indices for the various economies. The Markit index for the European Monetary Union moved up to 54.0 in [...]
- Global| May 05 2014
Sweden Struggles
Industrial production (excluding construction) in Sweden fell by 3.8% in March with manufacturing production falling by 3.9%. Each of those drops follows a rise about 2% in February, but in each case those increases were preceded by a [...]
- Global| May 02 2014
Manufacturing Continues to Recover in Europe but Slowly
The manufacturing PMI gauge for the European Monetary Union rose to 53.4 in April from 53.0 in March. The April level is barely above its February level of 53.2. The EMU manufacturing sector continues to improve, but improvement is [...]
- Global| May 01 2014
Manufacturing PMIs Move Up in UK & Ireland; Declines in Netherlands
The Markit manufacturing indices for April show increases in the UK and Ireland and a decline in the Netherlands. Over three months very strong gains are registered in Ireland and the manufacturing index is up by 3.4 points with the [...]
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