U.K. retail sales in September fell by 0.2% as the volume index ticked higher by 0.1%. Nominal sales volumes with a 50.7 percentiles are just a nudge above their median while sales volume growth over the past year at 6.3% has a 59.9 [...]
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| Oct 17 2019U.K. Retail Sales Volumes Are Nearly Flat on the Month
- Global| Oct 16 2019
The Grip of Weakness Or the Gripe of Slow Growth?
The headlines European auto sales fell sharply in September by 20.2% month-to-month but since they fell by 40% month-to-month one year ago in September; the year-over-year pace has accelerated to a 19.7% gain. That kind of volatility [...]
- Global| Oct 15 2019
ZEW Assessments of Conditions and Growth Remain Weak and Troubling
Growth is precarious; don't be nefarious ZEW experts are only one group with a negative and cautionary outlook. In its annual report, the IMF blamed the global slowdown on (1) trade fights, (2) Brexit uncertainty, and (3) other [...]
- Global| Oct 11 2019
German Price Trends Are Affirmed at a Slow Steady Pace; Germany Policy Desires and Demands Remain Restrictive
Germany is renowned for its aversion to inflation. It suffered hyper-inflation in the 1920s and this experience made an indelible mark on the German psyche. That experience was extreme. And it has left Germany averse to even a whiff [...]
- Global| Oct 10 2019
German Trade Flows Continue to Wind Down
In today's trade report, Germany logged a drop in exports of 1.8% month-to-month and of -1.1% year-on-year for August. German imports edged higher by 0.5% month-to-month while falling by 1% year-on-year. Germany's trade deficit fell [...]
- Global| Oct 09 2019
BOF Survey Weakens
The BoF survey indicator fell to 96.0 in September from 98.9 in August. With the survey in hand, the Bank of France is looking for Q3 GDP to gain 0.3%, the same as its previous estimate. However, the survey indicator has only a 27th [...]
- Global| Oct 08 2019
German IP Has Upside Surprise But With Little Impact
A monthly rebound, yes, but NO green shoots The August 0.3% rebound in German IP and the stronger rebound of 0.7% in German manufacturing IP are surprises that were not tipped off by German orders or by the German PMI or by other [...]
- Global| Oct 07 2019
Orders Suggest That Germany Flirts With Some Sort of Recession
Germany's manufacturing orders continue to run weak. Overall orders are still declining. Total orders have fallen month-to-month five times in the past eight months. Currently, order weakness concentrates in the domestic sector where [...]
- Global| Oct 04 2019
British Chambers of Commerce Survey Weakens
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) quarterly economic survey shows weakness in both manufacturing and services with manufacturing leading the way lower as was expected to with trade as the likely active operational factor. But is [...]
- Global| Oct 03 2019
EMU: Inflation, Domestic Spending and Global Conditions
The good news - and there has not been enough of that these days - is that in EMU consumer spending trends are holding up nicely. Spending trends are generally neither accelerating steadily nor decelerating steadily in the EMU. But [...]
- Global| Oct 02 2019
Japan's Tankan Survey Weakens
Japan's Tankan survey weakened in Q3 as did the outlook for Q4. The only ‘saving grace' in this report is that despite widespread weakness it had been expected to show even greater slippage. This is a very comprehensive and closely [...]
- Global| Oct 01 2019
More Than Half the Manufacturing PMIs Are Below 50; Momentum Is Fading and PMI Levels Are Getting Low
Taking a full count of the countries and regions in the top panel of the table, ten of 17 have PMIs below 50 in September. There are two countries Turkey and Taiwan with readings right at 50 (note: Taiwan is below 50 but rounds up to [...]
- of353Go to 99 page