The climate indicator for France’s Service sector noted lower by one point in March continuing a slip that began in mid-2007. The index now stands in the 77th percentile of its range of values since 2000. The climate outlook is weaker [...]
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 27 2008French Service Sector Continues to Lose Momentum
- Global| Mar 26 2008
French Production Trend is Lower but Optimism is Intact
The chart on the left shows that price trends continue to press higher in France but the production trend is sharply lower. For total industry we find similar results to those in manufacturing. The recent trend of production at -11 is [...]
- Global| Mar 26 2008
Biz Confidence Sinks Further in Italy
Italy’s Business confidence gauge from ISAE edged lower in March to 89 from 89.6 in February. The pace of its decline, however, seems to have slowed (see the blue line in accompanying chart). Overall confidence is not in terrible [...]
- Global| Mar 26 2008
Germany’s IFO Index Turns Up…Again
The IFO headline index rose to 104.08 in March from 103.1 in February. This rise marks the third straight increase from a low of 103 in December 2007. It comes at a time that the euro is moving relentlessly higher and policymakers are [...]
- Global| Mar 26 2008
EMU Orders Rise in January but Trends Point Lower
It may not be resiliency as much as volatility as the rise in January EMU orders still shows growth rates steadily declining from 12 months to 6 months to 3 months. In the current quarter despite the bump up in January orders are only [...]
- Global| Mar 24 2008
Italy Retail Sales and Consumer Confidence Sag
Italy’s retail sales edged up in January, rising by 0.2% in nominal terms, likely a decline in volume terms given the recent pace of inflation. Over the past three months, sales values fell at a 0.4% annual rate. And, overall value [...]
- Global| Mar 21 2008
Italy’s Consumer Confidence Erodes
The chart on the left shows that consumer confidence has been weaker briefly in 2004 and then again back in 1994. But at the pace that confidence is falling it may be there soon. Italy’s Sentiment indicator is in the bottom 6% of its [...]
- Global| Mar 21 2008
French Orders in Holding Pattern With Strong Foreign Orders
French industrial orders are hanging tough in an environment where Euro Area growth is fading and the euro is getting stronger. Total new orders and foreign orders are however losing some momentum after spurting strongly in mid-2007 [...]
- Global| Mar 20 2008
German Ex-Energy PPI Shows Disconcerting Pressure!
German ex-energy MFG prices are showing pressure with three-month inflation surging and pushing up the pace across the major tenor comparisons. Headline MFG price inflation is in the 5% to 6% range over three and six months. It is [...]
- Global| Mar 20 2008
UK Retail Sales Show Unexpected Zest
UK retail sales surged in February quite unexpectedly. Sales popped by 1.2% in nominal terms and by 0.9% inflation adjusted ex-autos Real sales ex autos are now up a strong 5.1% from one-year ago while nominal sales overall are up [...]
- Global| Mar 19 2008
Japan Slips and its Assessment is Cut…
Japan’s all-industry index was flat in January. The tertiary index that it tracks so closely was up to 110.3 from 109.5 in December. In terms of year-to-year changes the tertiary and all-industries indices are about the same showing a [...]
- Global| Mar 19 2008
Italy Orders Rise in Month but Still Faltering Trend
Italy’s orders jumped sharply in January but only after an even larger fall in December. As a result the Q1 sales growth for orders in January over the Q4 average is a dismal -1.8%. Foreign orders in Q1 2008 are still rising however [...]
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