EMU areas retail sales continue to disappoint. Sales edged up in December and were revised higher in earlier months, infusing the series with some good news to help paper over the month of December’s poor showing. The sequential [...]
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| Feb 03 2010EMU Retail Sales And The Euro-Area Prospects For Stability
- Global| Feb 02 2010
German Retail Sales In Very Slow-Motion Recovery
German retail sales rose by 0.8% in both real and nominal terms (ex autos) in December. The rise still leaves the 3-month nominal growth rate for sales in a mild negative path while in real terms retail sales are flat over three [...]
- Global| Feb 01 2010
EMU PMIs Continue To Recovery
Euro-Area recovery continues - The EU/EMU nation PMIs continue to show recovery. Greece, with its economic difficulties and huge fiscal problems, already is showing signs of an uphill battle. Greece’s MFG PMIs are lower over three [...]
- Global| Jan 29 2010
Ain’t No Sunshine When It's Gone…Money Growth
Tight money isn’t funny – With the Fed’s balance sheet bloated like glutton at a roman feast, tensions have run high on the prospects of inflation. Like Mr Creosote in the Monty Python skit everyone is sure that with the equivalent of [...]
- Global| Jan 28 2010
EMU Recovery Remains In Force
The EU indices rose in January improving to -13 from -16 for all of EU. All the large country indices improved on the month from Germany to France to Italy to Spain to the UK. While the EU Service index is the highest raw reading at [...]
- Global| Jan 27 2010
French Biz And Household Sectors Continue Process Of Repair
Despite great strides made in the improvement in business and household confidence since the pit of the recession, levels of confidence for business and households remain at levels that are below par. Both series, while still [...]
- Global| Jan 25 2010
Belgium Leads The Way, Pauses Then Resumes Its Climb
Belgium is a small open EMU economy that tends to lead the way in the Euro-business cycle. It is headed higher once again in January. The chart above shows that the Belgium MFG index usually surges early and peaks ahead of the indices [...]
- Global| Jan 22 2010
EMU Orders Surprise But Really Do Not Delight
EMU orders rise, but beware the optimism EMU orders rose in November more than expected. A lot is being made of the much smaller Yr/Yr drop which now at -4.1% compares to the -12.1% reported last month (not shown in the table). But [...]
- Global| Jan 20 2010
Housing Starts Unwound
Housing starts unwound in December falling by 4% on the month. Still, the drop leaves starts in a more less stabilized environment, bumping along at one of their lowest levels of the cycle. Single unit 2-4 unit and 5-unit starts are [...]
- Global| Jan 20 2010
Italian Orders Continue Upswing
Italian orders surged beyond expectations in November rising by 2.6%, marking three straight months of increases and increases in seven of the last eight months. These statistics register in the sequential growth rates in the table [...]
- Global| Jan 20 2010
PPI Core Behaves; Headline Is Still Unruly
On the month the PPI was a “what-me-worry’ sort of report. A headline gain of 0.2%, the core flat, the core for consumer goods up a scant 0.1%:. No problem. Still Yr/Yr the PPI headline is up by 4.7% -and it is accelerating its rise [...]
- Global| Jan 20 2010
PPI Core Behaves; Headline IsStill Unruly
On the month the PPI was a “what-me-worry’ sort of report. A headline gain of 0.2%, the core flat, the core for consumer goods up a scant 0.1%:. No problem. Still Yr/Yr the PPI headline is up by 4.7% -and it is accelerating its rise [...]
- of350Go to 273 page