Consumer confidence in Finland stepped back in March, dropping to a reading of -3 from -0.8 in February. The March reading has a 35.1 percentile standing among data back to 1998 but shows a substantial improvement from one year ago [...]
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 29 2021Consumer Confidence Backtracks in Finland
- Global| Mar 26 2021
IFO Indexes Move Sharply Higher But Are Still Lacking
The IFO indexes moved higher in March. The chart plots the indexes while the table presents sector results and aggregate gauges based on diffusion indexes. The graph shows a very strong gain in business expectations and a solid rise [...]
- Global| Mar 25 2021
German Confidence Points to an April Recovery But Is Still Quite Weak and the Virus Is Still on the Loose
The GfK German confidence gauge is still quite weak as it posts a headline reading of -6.2 (projected for April). This compares to an historic average reading of 5.2. Place the April reading in its range of values and the current [...]
- Global| Mar 24 2021
Europe's composite PMI Moves Strongly Higher-Shows Expansion Again
The Markit PMI 'flash' readings for March show improvement and for the most part - strong improvement - all up and down the line. Japan is the sole exception with a small improvement month-to-month based on small improvements in both [...]
- Global| Mar 23 2021
U.K. CBI Survey Shows Improving Industrial Sector...Will Virus Politics Interfere?
The U.K. CBI industrial trends survey shows a sharp improvement in orders in March. The total order reading jumped to -5 from February’s -24 as its sequential averages echoed the ongoing improvement in the sector. With that jump in [...]
- Global| Mar 22 2021
Confidence in Belgium Continues to Move Up
The National Bank of Belgium consumer survey shows an improvement in confidence in March with its consumer index improving to -4 from -9 in February. The one-month, three-month and 12-month improvements are all about the same in [...]
- Global| Mar 19 2021
U.K. Consumer Confidence Rises 'Strongly' But Remains Weak
The U.K. economy has been put through the wringer with its Brexit decision and seemingly endless negotiations, a change in government and then it was sucker-punched by the coronavirus which took hold in the U.K. and then morphed into [...]
- Global| Mar 18 2021
EMU Trade Balance Erodes in January
The EMU trade balance saw its surplus erode in January, falling to €24.2bln in January from €27.5bln in December. Exports fell harder than imports to drive this result. Exports fell by 2.8% while imports fell by 1.3% (both month-to- [...]
- Global| Mar 17 2021
Passenger Car Registrations Continue to Sag in Europe
Passenger car registrations in Europe rose by 6.3% m/m in February but only after falling by 28.2% in January. Registration rose in the month in four of the five countries in the table, with France being the exception. This month’s [...]
- Global| Mar 16 2021
ZEW Expectations Continue to Climb
The table suggests that the operative word for the ZEW survey this month is 'stronger.' Readings improved in 34 of 35 non-foreign exchange related categories that assess macroeconomic conditions, markets and inflation. In fact, the [...]
- Global| Mar 15 2021
Japan's Service Sector Contracts for the Third Month in a Row and Japan Orders Fall in January
Compare current activity to one year ago Japan continues to have a slow rollout out from under the effects of the coronavirus. The far-right hand column of the table looks at the percentage change in each measure in the table on its [...]
- Global| Mar 12 2021
German HICP Runs Flat as Year-on-Year Gain Steadies at 1.6%
The German HICP was flat in February as the core fell by 0.1%. The German CPI went its own way rising by 0.4% in February with the core up by 0.2% month-to-month. The annual data show the HICP up by 1.6% with the core up by 1.7% while [...]
- of353Go to 68 page