The Euro consumer is not helping to lead growth to the Promised Land. Retail sales came up lame in February after rising by just the thinnest margin of 0.1% in January. The growth rate for retail sales is steady over 3-and 6-months at [...]
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| Apr 08 2010Euro-Consumer Remains Sluggish
- Global| Apr 07 2010
German Orders Hold Gains
German orders were flat in February as they held the 5.1% m/m gain from the month before. Foreign orders built on a 3.7% gain in January by rising an additional 1.8% m/m as domestic orders gave back 1.9 percentage points of their 6.7 [...]
- Global| Apr 05 2010
Money Supply Growth Begins To Shift – Is That All?
So far only the UK is showing a sharp shift in its rate of money growth. But the e-Zone is showing a small money growth revival. US money growth has been dropping very rapidly but is showing a hint of stability- still its sequential [...]
- Global| Apr 02 2010
Auto Sales In The Zone Come Back To Earth
Policymakers around the world have used the auto sector as a lever to try and pry growth out of their respective economies. It may seem strange that such a ‘big ticket item’ would be uses so universally, but that is partly the result [...]
- Global| Apr 01 2010
German Retail Sales Back-Track In February But Still Show An Uptrend Can It Last?
In terms of its broad trends German retail sales are beginning to do a bit better. The three-month rate of growth is better than the six-month rate of growth which exceeds the twelve month rate of growth. So the sequential growth [...]
- Global| Mar 31 2010
EU: Growth So Slow, You’d Hardly Know…
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 [...]
- 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. [...]
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