It is not so unusual for the rate of unemployment to rise early in an expansion, but this expansion has been in train for a while and the rise in the rate is a bit chilling. Taking some of the sting out of this event may be the German [...]
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| Mar 31 2010EU: Growth So Slow, You’d Hardly Know…
- Global| Mar 30 2010
Is Japan Completing Its Transition To Growth From Recession?
Despite the month’s sharp drop in output, the chart of Japan’s sequential growth rates is a very encouraging picture of an economy in transition. Still it offers no iron-clad promise for the future. The chart shows the drop of IP into [...]
- Global| Mar 26 2010
Italian Households Take Another Step Back In Comfort Italian Consumer Confidence Turns The Corner, The Wrong Corner
Italian consumers used to feel better. They used to feel a lot better just a few short months ago. In December of 2009 at a level of 113.6 Italy’s consumer confidence measure compiled by ISAE hit what is for now its cycle high. That [...]
- Global| Mar 25 2010
UK Retail Sales Rebound After Larger Set-Back
UK retail sales are up by a sharper-than-expected 1.9% in February but the bounce is from a 2.5% drop in January. The UK sales path has been a rocky one as the growth rate chart above attests. As you would expect, Yr/Yr sales have [...]
- Global| Mar 24 2010
New Home Sales Drop But Prices Rise – Go Figure
If there is such a thing as a classic signal for a weather effect this is it: sales fall but Yr/Yr prices rise. Housing prices are not seasonally adjusted. They do exhibit some pretty pronounced seasonal patterns, however. Yr/Yr [...]
- Global| Mar 24 2010
Euro-Area PMIs Rise Sharply Other Things Unravel…
TheEuro-Area PMIs rose sharply in March. For MFG the index reached a new post recession high, it s strongest level since January 2007. For services, the 1.68 point rise to 53.65 brings it close to its cycle high reading of 53.71 and [...]
- Global| Mar 24 2010
Durable Goods Trends Continue Higher
Broad trends: Durable goods orders and shipments are still rebounding, but the pace of increase has topped out in February when we observe the Yr/Yr trend in the chart. The rise in orders continues to run ahead of shipments growth. [...]
- Global| Mar 24 2010
Durable Goods Trends ContinueHigher
Broad trends: Durable goods orders and shipments are still rebounding, but the pace of increase has topped out in February when we observe the Yr/Yr trend in the chart. The rise in orders continues to run ahead of shipments growth. [...]
- Global| Mar 23 2010
French Business Climate Gets Better As Political Climate Gets Worse…
France’s business climate indicator complied by Insee, rose to 94 in March from 91 in February. This is its best standing since August of 2008. Still it is not a good level. The climate indicator is only in the 47th percentile of its [...]
- Global| Mar 22 2010
Canadian Retail Sales Are On A Roll
Canadian Retail sales rose a sharp 0.7% in January. Deflated by the CPI the retail sales rise comes back to a still respectable 0.4% gain. The year-over-year plot in the chart shows the acceleration in nominal retail sales is slowing. [...]
- Global| Mar 19 2010
Orders Drop In Italy And France Upward Trend Is Mixed
The year over year charts show that momentum is still in-place for Italy and for France despite a set-back in January. Both Italy and France have seen orders drop in January. For France the January drop was severe but it still did not [...]
- Global| Mar 17 2010
UK Claimant Count In Surprise Move Lower
The UK, an economy that has been as much of an enigma as any, surprised us with a drop in the claimant count for February. Jobless claims fell in number by 32K in February and their numbers are lower on balance over three-months and [...]
- of350Go to 270 page