EMU retail sales momentum is on the downswing. As we have seen in selected country level reports the European growth situation is losing some steam. Whereas in the US the MFG sector made some rebound for a very sharp drop in May 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| Jul 05 2011
Retail Sales in the Euro-Area Lose Momentum
Global| Jul 01 2011
Euro-Area Manufacturing Withers
The MFG PMIs tell a story of slowing growth in the Zone. Every nation’s PMIs are now is a declining mode. While Greece saw some improvement in its index this month (and how it did that we will never know) it has the lowest percentile [...]
Global| Jun 30 2011
German Retail Sales In Surprising Drop...And Their Relationship to The Euro-Debt Circus
German retailing weakens - German retail sales (real sales ex-autos) fell by 3% in May (yes, M/M) a surprisingly sharp drop, taking the Yr/Yr growth rate to -2.9%. Meanwhile, auto registrations did move sharply higher in May as oil [...]
Global| Jun 29 2011
Euro-Area Slips in Yet Another Month
The EU indices show another month of weakness as the overall sentiment index dropped for both EU and EMU as a run of weakness enveloped most of the large member countries. Spain is the exception and Spain alone is up to its cycle peak [...]
Global| Jun 24 2011
Mild Declines by Sector for IFO Survey
Germany's well-regarded IFO survey shows there has been minimal erosion in the various German key economic sectors. All sectors stand in the top 20% or in a much better position of their historic ranges of hi-low values. When ranked [...]
Global| Jun 23 2011
Euro-Area PMIs Head Lower
The early read on the European PMIS is called the flash release. This month the indicators are flashing warning signs as growth is fading very fast and ECB head Trichet sees red warning signals of his own. Every picture tells a story, [...]
Global| Jun 22 2011
French MFG Settles Lower
The overall French industry index rebounded in April to 109 form 106 bouncing back to its May level. As such it is only one point off the March high of 110 (see chart). On the MFG front (see table) the slowing is more demonstrative. [...]
Global| Jun 17 2011
Euro-Area Trade Goes With The Flow But Still Slows
Euro-Area trade flows have lost some momentum, but the Zone-wide deficit continues to get larger. Import growth exceeds export growth over 12-months and 6-months but has given ground over 3-months. Still it’s not enough time to tell [...]
Global| Jun 16 2011
Zone Inflation Sort of Stops Rising
While headline Zone inflation hits 0% in May and the core edged up by just 0.1% the trends continue to point higher. What is really going on with inflation will play out over the coming months. Since commodity prices have broken their [...]
Global| Jun 15 2011
Euro-Area IP Barely Edges Ahead
The chart of the three main EMU sectors tells the basic story of the Zone. Capital goods output is relatively steady at growth rates between 6% and 10%. Intermediate goods output has slowed but has done so erratically. Meanwhile, [...]
Global| Jun 14 2011
French Trade Picture Erodes
The French trade picture is showing steady slippage. The trade deficit is eroding steadily. Exports have slowed sharply from their year ago growth rate of 17.7% to 7.2%; the sequential growth rates for exports are somewhat mixed but [...]
Global| Jun 10 2011
Euro Area Progress Takes a Different Metric
The table in this commentary contains data for some of the early inflation reporters in the Euro Area, as does the graph. The graph is showing that the rising inflation trend is abating across all of the troubled borrowers in the [...]
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