Retail sales surged by 4% in May marking the strongest gain in 22 years. Economists’ estimates had looked for sales to drop slightly. The gain has flummoxed observers who are not quite sure what to make of the new developing trend. [...]
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| Jun 19 2008UK Retail Sales Surge in 22-Yr High Gain
- Global| Jun 19 2008
All Industry Index Advances and Shows Resilience
Japan’s all-industry index was up sharply in April and stands in the 92nd percentile of its range of values since 1993. Construction is about at weak as the all industry index is strong standing in the bottom 2% of its range. The all- [...]
- Global| Jun 18 2008
Japan’s LEI - Unrevised but Still Downbeat
Japan’s LEI was unrevised in April but continues to fall at an accelerating pace. Over 12-mos the index fell at a 5.7% pace, over six-months the rate of decline is at a rate of 6.9% and over the recent three months ended in April the [...]
- Global| Jun 18 2008
UK Prices Pressures Mount for Industry
UK orders snapped back to a thin +1 reading for June after -10 net balance reading in May and a deeper decline for April. But the story is that price pressures continue to rage at intense levels at a +28 reading for the July-Sep [...]
- Global| Jun 16 2008
EMU HICP Spurts as ‘Core’ Edges Higher
Ever since Germany revised up its preliminary HICP for May the EMU HICP preliminary result has been on notice for an upward revision too. Today that rate was revised up to 3.7% from 3.6%, a small uptick, yes, but in the wrong [...]
- Global| Jun 13 2008
Readings Drop in May: Index to 96.6 in Bottom Quarter of Rank Range
The Bank of France business indicator fell to 97 from 100.4 in May. After seeing the result the Bank of France cut its growth estimate for GDP to +0.2% down from +0.3% previously for the Q/Q gain. In the latest month production was [...]
- Global| Jun 12 2008
EMU Area IP Growth Confirms the Strength Across Countries
In April EMU-wide industrial output rose by 0.3% but that was after a drop of 0.6% in March. While the Yr/Yr growth rate seems a lot higher at 2.9% in April compared to 1.4% in March, growth is actually fading. The monthly gain in [...]
- Global| Jun 11 2008
French Inflation Continues to Escalate Over the Top
Bad news for the ECB… France and the EMU ceiling - France’s HICP rate rose by 0.5% in May 2008; its own domestic CPI measure rose by 0.4% with a tempered core of +0.1%. The HICP core rate is not yet available. But both the HICP and [...]
- Global| Jun 10 2008
EMU Industrial Production Held Firm in April
Industrial output has held firm-to-strong in most of the large EMU countries in April. France shows strengthening IP trends. In Italy the three- and six- month growth rates are just above 2%. Spain’s numbers are simply too volatile to [...]
- Global| Jun 09 2008
German Trade Surplus Bulges Again in April
Despite weakening industrial output and fast decelerating orders German trade flows produced a larger surplus again in April. Exports rose by 1.2% in the month as imports dropped by a large 2.1%. Over the last three months import [...]
- Global| Jun 09 2008
OECD CLIs Point to Further Slowing Except Japan
The OECD composite leading indicators (CLIs) show fang growth trends for the OEC and highly accelerated slowing in the US. The main regions show an accelerated slowing is in progress, even EMU with a six month growth rate of -23.1% [...]
- Global| Jun 09 2008
German Industrial Output Trends Head Lower
German industrial output in April fell by 0.8% for the second straight month, held back by dropping construction sector output. However, the sector indices for consumer goods and intermediate goods tumbled in April as well. Capital [...]
- of353Go to 310 page