Germany's Ifo continues to power higher. It is engaged in its second upswing in its cyclical recovery since the end of the financial crisis. In this `second wave up' the Ifo is locked into a milder upgrade that it had earlier, but the [...]
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 22 2013German Ifo Fills Out
- Global| Nov 22 2013
Belgium National Bank Survey Shows Improvement
The Belgian National Bank Survey shows an improving trend, but the index still signals contraction in November. The negative reading for manufacturing is halved in November compared to October. But wholesaling and retailing are only [...]
- Global| Nov 21 2013
PMIs Lose Luster in Europe
The EMU economy continues to advance, but the November PMI gain is decidedly lackluster. The manufacturing gauge rose to 51.55 from 51.30. In the service sector conditions barely improved as the index advanced to 50.94 from 50.91. [...]
- Global| Nov 20 2013
German PPI Sinks in October
PPI trends in Germany are still working lower. This is also true of the HICP. Over 12-months the German PPI is showing contraction. Over 12-months the German CPI is rising by 1.2% or by 1.5% excluding energy. The chart depicts the [...]
- Global| Nov 19 2013
Germany's ZEW Barometer Improves- But for How Long?
The main focus for watchers of the ZEW index is its expectations reading. That reading rose to 54.6 in November from 52.8 in October. The current index declined to 28.7 from October's 29.7. The two indices are now roughly at the same [...]
- Global| Nov 18 2013
EMU Trade Balance Improves
The EMU trade surplus is on the rise. While that may be good for the value of the euro, it may not be a good development overall. The upright green bars in the graph tell the story of persistent surpluses, but that story is given a [...]
- Global| Nov 15 2013
EMU Inflation Continues to Plunge-What Does It Mean?
When forming the EMU, the European Central Bank pledged to keep inflation at 2%. In the better than 14 years of existence, the ECB has kept its end of the bargain holding the inflation rate to 2.02% over the period. Contrast this to [...]
- Global| Nov 14 2013
EMU GDP Is Advancing, but Not for All Members
I know it is cynical to write about the second quarterly EMU GDP rise after six consecutive quarters of declines and to feature a chart of the growth of some of the weakest EMU members. After seeing GDP broke out of its declining ways [...]
- Global| Nov 13 2013
IP European-style Continues to Tease European Paradox
EMU industrial production has fallen in eleven of the past 20 months. The chart shows that year-over-year IP growth has been snaking along, just below zero, for some time. Other metrics like the manufacturing and services PMIs from [...]
- Global| Nov 12 2013
OECD Leading Indicators Confirm Strength in Euro-periphery
The OECD leading economic indicators are a good short hand way to assess trends across various economies. The chart on the left shows that the US expansion seems to have steadied. Europe's momentum is strong as its indicator is moving [...]
- Global| Nov 11 2013
Greek Trade Trends Set to Sour
For most of the period since the financial crisis ended, Greek exports continued to outpace weak imports. But over the last year exports have fallen by 2.3% while imports have risen by 2.0%. As a result of that mix, the Greek [...]
- Global| Nov 08 2013
Germany's Trade and Current Surpluses Continue to Rise
It was controversy large German current account deficit part of the release of December figures on trade. Now with exports growing strong in September imports dropping trade surplus as surge in higher Germany is going to feel even [...]
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