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 [...]
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 07 2014German Foreign Orders Drop Unexpectedly
- 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 [...]
- Global| Apr 30 2014
German Retail Sales Drop in March
German retail sales fell by 0.6% in March after rising by 0.2% in February. Nonetheless, over three months German retail sales excluding autos are rising at a 7% annual rate on the strength of the strong gain back in January. Ex-auto [...]
- Global| Apr 29 2014
EU Sentiment Rises; EMU Sentiment Is Set Back
The EU sentiment indicator rose in April as the same indicator for EMU fell by 0.5%. All EU-wide sector indicators rose month-to-month except construction. The UK economy is on fire, with its sentiment index in the 94th percentile of [...]
- Global| Apr 28 2014
Italian Consumer Confidence Ramps Up
Italian consumer confidence has moved up sharply and unexpectedly in April. The index that measures confidence jumped to 105.4 in April from 101.9 in March. The index now sits above its average reading of 104 and is positioned in the [...]
- Global| Apr 25 2014
UK Retail Sales Continue to Climb
UK retail sales rose by 0.4% in March, building on a 1% increase in February. However, these gains are not enough to offset January's 2% decline, leaving the three-month growth rate at a -2.8% annual rate. That result is repeated for [...]
- Global| Apr 24 2014
Ifo Shows Unexpected Strength as Europe Makes Some Progress
Climate in Germany's Ifo index improved unexpectedly in April. The climate index moved to 14.8 in April from 13.8 in March with current conditions improving to 18.9 from 18.7 as expectations rose to 10.8 from 9.0. The rise in [...]
- Global| Apr 23 2014
Italian Trade Trends: A One Month Back-off
Italian exports and imports are both engaged in a longer-term trend of sweeping upward after an extended period of showing year-over-year declines (see Chart). Exports currently are up at a 3% annual rate over 12 months while imports [...]
- Global| Apr 22 2014
Sweden Makes Employment Progress
Sweden continues to make progress on the employment front. In March employment improved by 0.7% after being flat in February and down slightly in January. Over three months, the employment growth rate is 2.9%, up from 2.4% over the [...]
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