Germany's PPI had flared at the very start of the year but now just as suddenly as it rose it is backing off. The PPI that rose by 0.6% in January is now falling by 0.4% for an average increase of 0.1% over each of the last two [...]
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 20 2020
The German PPI Backs Off After Spike
Global| Mar 19 2020
Japan's Inflation Remains Weak; No Bazooka For Inflation Misses
Japan's CPI fell by 0.1% in February; the core CPI (ex food and energy) fell by 0.2% in the month. Of course, the Bank of Japan is not going to be happy with the inflation trend that now is wholly muted. But the Bank, and Japan as a [...]
Global| Mar 18 2020
EU Passenger Car Registrations Tick Higher But Are Broadly Weak While Markets Remain Broadly Scared
Car registrations weakened sharply in January ahead of any virus effect in Europe. In February, sales edged higher by 2.2%. Still, that leaves sales/registrations falling at a 30% annual rate over three months, falling at a 32% annual [...]
Global| Mar 17 2020
Zew Zig Zags Toward Zilch; Zew and What to Do
Welcome to the wild wacky world of economic analysis during a global contagion with national policies slamming the brakes on at different speeds to head off the spread of the virus in different regions around the globe. As you can see [...]
Global| Mar 16 2020
Italian Inflation Gets Even Lower; From 0.4% over 12 Months in January to 0.2% in February
Italian inflation is low and falling. The HICP was up by 0.4% year-over-year in January to 0.2% over 12 months in February. The month-to-month change in February saw a drop of 0.2% after a flat performance in January. Italy, once one [...]
Global| Mar 13 2020
German HICP Accelerates As the Virus Tears Through the Global Economy
The German HICP pace rose to 1.8% year-over-year from a 1.6% pace last month. The acceleration happened because one year ago in February the HICP was flat compared to rising by 0.2% this month. The core pace is lower at 1.5% year over [...]
The EMU IP index rose by a sharp 2.3% in January; its first increase since September. Output gains registered across all major sectors… And they are not apropos of a trend. This is yet another report that has showed a pick-up in [...]
Global| Mar 11 2020
UK IP Makes Another Small Monthly Gain in January As BOE Cuts Rate and Government Adopts Stimulus
Despite having two monthly gains in a row the UK sequential growth time series show that 12-month, 6-month and 3-month growth rates all are in a slowing mode (see chart for this). The simple sequential growth rates comparing the [...]
Global| Mar 10 2020
Italian IP Has Strong January Rebound...but Don’t Extrapolate It
Italian IP rose by a strong 3.4% month-to-month in January after falling by 2.4% in December. December’s losses were across the board, and similarly, January’s gains are also across the board. Despite the late in-the-quarter drop in [...]
Global| Mar 09 2020
German IP Shows Some Life in January; The Eye of the Storm: Post Trade Wars Pre-Corona
Arguably Germany's industrial production finds itself in the eye of the storm. There is some January rebound as U.S. China tensions ratcheted down with the year-end Phase-One trade deal. With that, markets began to breathe a sigh of [...]
Global| Mar 06 2020
German Orders Make Strong Rebound
German orders rose by 5.5% in January after falling in each of the two previous months. The sharp gain is enough to boost growth positive over both three months and six months and to put orders on an accelerating path. The January [...]
Global| Mar 05 2020
Euro Area Inflation Remains Controlled
In the euro area inflation remains well under the ECB’s just-less-than-2% objective. Globally inflation has been tame as the economic outlook has been pulled back. Oil prices have pulled back as well as the OPEC is resorting to some [...]
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