Introducing

Robert Brusca

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

Japan| May 24 2024
Japan’s Inflation Momentum Wanes, Putting BOJ in a Tough Spot
Inflation in Japan rose by 0.2% in April after 0.3% in March. The CPI excluding fresh food was flat after rising 0.1% in March. The core of the CPI calculated excluding energy and fresh food was flat in April. Calculating the core excluding all food and energy leads to rise of 0.2% in April.

Inflation, broadly expressed, in April, is weak and weakening although it's not fully reflected in the sequential rates of inflation. The headline CPI rises 2.5% over 12 months, gains at a 1.1% annual rate over six months, then elevates at a 1.9% pace over three months. However, for the whole CPI excluding fresh food, there's a 2.1% gain over 12 months, a 1.1% annual rate gain over six months, and a lower 0.4% gain over three months. For all items excluding food and energy, the 12-month inflation rate is 2%, decelerating to 1.2% over six months and holding at that same pace over three months. But the core reimagined with fresh food eliminated along with energy rises by 2.4% over 12 months, at a 1.3% annual rate over six months, and eases further to a 0.8% annual rate over three months.

These progressions show the headline inflation rate roughly holds to Japan’s target of about 2% inflation. Over 12 months, the inflation rate is still too high at 2.5%; however, progressively, inflation is coming down as over three months; it holds close to the 2% target running at 1.9%. However, for the other metrics excluding food or fresh food or both fresh food as well as energy, we find inflation is decelerating more rapidly. At 12 months, all the other measures are copacetic. All the 12-month inflation rates are at or above the Bank of Japan's 2% target, but moving inside that time frame to six-months, the inflation rates are under 1 ½% and moving down to the 3-month span inflation rates are still below 1 ½% and several of the key rates are even below 1%.

These trends would seem to make it more difficult for the Bank of Japan to exercise the rate hikes that it would like to exercise to normalized monetary policy as it has been intending to do. Also, the weak yen does not yet appear to have stoked domestic inflation and the Bank of Japan has been using intervention to try to keep the yen from weakening but a more fundamental prop for the yen would be for it to raise interest rates - although the inflation statistics don't seem to allow much of that. Still, there may be a question of whether the week yen still is going to feed through into domestic inflation and provide the Bank of Japan more support for further rate hikes… so far, the data do not contain that element.

The quarter-to-date inflation data continue to show these same issues with inflation. The all-item inflation rate is at 2.3% while the inflation rates for the other metrics are below 1 ½% annualized. The quarter-to-date inflation rates are nascent calculations since April is the first month of the second quarter; starting the quarter out with such weak inflation especially with the other-than-headline measures ending the first quarter on a weak note, imparts weak momentum to inflation.
by:Robert Brusca
|in:Economy in Brief
Global| May 23 2024
S&P PMIs for EMU in Gradual Upswing -Abating This Month
The S&P flash PMIs for the composite manufacturing and services gauges for seven early-reporter units (6 countries) including the European Monetary Union show more weakening conditions than strengthening conditions in May. Looked at by reporting unit, manufacturing has improved in every single reporting unit on a month-to-month basis; however, in six of the seven units, the services sector was weaker and since the services sector is having a bigger impact on the composite for these six reporters, the composite, and the services index both weakened. The U.S. is the exceptional reporter that had a strengthening in all three gauges: the composite, manufacturing, and services.

Part of this reflects a reversal from April when fourteen of these gauges improved and seven deteriorated (three gauges per reporting unit across seven reporting units). And in May there were only 5 gauges that were weaker compared to 16 that were stronger. The monthly data had been showing more improvements until May.

Quarterly data repeat this process with five of these gauges weaker over three months compared to 16 stronger. This is a reversal of the six-month pattern in which 16 gauges were weaker and only five were stronger- and that's the same condition that prevails over 12 months. So, we find ourselves in a transitional 3-month period where things are getting stronger; however, in May at the end of this string, we find a reversion to previous conditions of having more weakness than strength. This simply means that we must keep a close eye on these events to see if we're seeing a slowdown in the recovery process or a termination of the recovery process and a reversion to weakness.

The percentile standings tell us where the current indexes stand relative to their position over the last 4 1/2 years. On this basis, the percentile standings executed on the queue standing basis show 10 of the 21 gauges have standings below the 50% mark which puts them below their historic median for the last 4 1/2 years. However, weakness is concentrated in France and the United Kingdom, two countries that have all sectors below the 50-percentile mark. Japan is the only exception to have all gauges above the 50-percentile mark. The most general observation is that the composite index and the service sector index have percentile standings in their 60th percentiles, with manufacturing at some standing level below its 50th percentile usually around its 40th percentile or lower. The unweighted average standing for the group has the composite with the 59-percentile standing, the average with the 38.6 percentile standing, and services at a 61.4 percentile standing. Excluding the U.S. from this unweighted average, we find little changed with the average at 59.1% for the composite, at 38.7% for manufacturing and at 61.3% for services. The U.S. has standing statistics that are just about at the average for this group.

The chart shows that recent momentum has been improving at least in the European Monetary Area. However, the current month shows a set-back and the most recent three months show improvement after six-month and 12-month averages that were considerably weaker. The question on the table is whether this improvement is continuing or whether it's slowing down or running out of gas. Central banks had been raising rates during this period, and - more recently- have stopped. And they have not for the most part shifted to a policy of easing although several of them seemed to be poised to take that next step. The next step the central banks take is going to depend a lot upon how inflation performs and inflation performance, which had been positive and constructive during most of this period, has since slowed, or begun to make some small reversals. That leaves a question mark about what central bank policy will be and that in turn leaves a question mark about how growth will unfold.
by:Robert Brusca
|in:Economy in Brief
Europe| May 22 2024
Car registrations in Europe Rebound Smartly in April
European car registrations in April rose 11.8% after falling by 8.8% in March. Looking at smoothed data with percent changes calculated from three-month moving averages, the April gain was 0.3% after a March gain of 0.5%. This simply means that in smooth terms gains in auto sales/registrations continue and haven't changed speeds by very much.

Accounting by country, it was a strong monthly gain in April in Germany with car registrations up to 8.4%; Italian registrations were up by 3.3% in April. Registrations fell by an outsized 8.8% in the United Kingdom; they fell by 1.8% in France, and by 0.5% in Spain. The country level data represent reversals month-to-month for all countries except the U.K. In other words, countries with sales gains in April had declines in March and countries with declines in April had increases in March. The exception is the U.K. that had substantial declines in both March and in April; however, the U.K. is also coming off of a huge gain in February that by itself is nearly as big as the two months consolidated drops in April and March; the U.K. February gain is by far a much larger than the increase in registrations seen in any other European country in the table in that month. The month-to-month declines for sales for two months running in the U.K. is not surprising; the U.K. economy has been struggling. However, when we see that those two months’ drops compared to such a strong gain in February the overall signal is muddied and muted.

Sequential annualized sales for all of Europe show 12-month gains at 13.9%, compared to a 4.2% annual rate gain over six months, and a 3.6% annual rate gain over three months. There's a sharp slowdown from the 12-month pace compared to three and six months. Surprisingly, there's more variability in the smooth data that show European registrations up 6.1% based on three-month averages over 12 months but a growth rate of -6.9% over 6 months based on smoothed data, and a growth rate of 6.1% over 3 months based on smoothed data.

Country level sequential data only show relative clarity for Italy and the United Kingdom. U.K. 12-month growth rate is 1.8% while the three-month and six-month growth rates are on the order of -20% annualized. Germany and Spain both show increases on all horizons. For Germany, the year over year growth rate is 12.9%, pretty similar to the three-month growth rate; however, there's a jump in the growth rate that doubles over six months and then settles back down. For Spain, the 12-month growth rate is 22.5%; it edges down slightly to 18.2% at an annual rate over six months and then jumps sharply to a 47.1% annual rate over three months. Germany and Spain clearly have the strongest registration profile. The U.K. clearly has the weakest while France and Italy are in between case; both France and Italy show gains over 12 months and declines in registrations over six months, but over three-months France shows an increase in registrations at a 19% annual rate while Italy shows a decline at a -14% pace. Italy shows a decelerating pace of registrations from 8.2% over 12 months to -13.2% over 6 months, the decline gains pace to -14.2% over 3 months.
by:Robert Brusca
|in:Economy in Brief
Canada| May 21 2024
Canada’s Inflation Progress Continues…Maybe
Canada’s year-on-year inflation rates broke lower in April with a strong decline in Canada’s CPIx that excludes eight volatile components from the CPI. The CPIx has lower volatility than the CPI headline (1.7%) but its volatility is higher than the core (1.4% vs. 1.1%).

Economists -including some central banker economists among them- have expended some effort in looking at inflation measures that exclude certain things beyond the traditional core omissions (food, energy…and, maybe, tobacco). The Dallas Fed in the U.S. has offered a trimmed mean; the Cleveland Fed has a damped measure as well. There are other efforts in the U.S. to exclude certain components such as housing costs linked to high mortgage rates (one of the items jettisoned by Canada’s CPIx as well); during COVID, there was the removal of surging truck prices in the U.S. gauge.

My view of these efforts is that I have a lot more respect for Canada putting out a price index that eliminates volatile items at all times, offering a structural parallax view of inflation, compared to the U.S. approach of eliminating items that are pushing up the rate of inflation the most. The traditional approach is to look at core inflation instead of headline inflation from time-to-time when commodity prices flare (food or energy particularly). This has been done to take the focus away from the part of the inflation process that is most volatile. However, when inflation is really rising, these components likely will be the most volatile part of the index. By definition, the most volatile components will surge the most when inflation rises. So, if inflation - when it gets going - always is stimulated through the same components, downplaying the structurally volatile items will lead to a misappraisal of inflation and of how it may be gathering momentum.

Canada’s indexes show that CPIx inflation is the lowest now (year-over-year), but it was traditional inflation (CPI) that rose the most. The question is whether CPIx will continue to lead the way lower.
by:Robert Brusca
|in:Economy in Brief
Japan| May 20 2024
Japan Service Sector Backs Down After Spike Higher
The METI tertiary (Service index) for March fell back to 100.2 from 102.7 in February when it spiked from 100.5 in January. The spike high of February is now back below its January level. At the bottom of the table the IP index for industry (excluding construction) is presented side-by-side with the METI tertiary index (for Services).

The rank of year-on-year growth in the IP index and the rank for the tertiary sector growth both are low, in the 20th percentile of all growth rates since mid-2009. The level of the IP index has been weaker on that timeline only 10.3% of the time. The METI services index has been lower only 44% of the time. These rankings mark both the industrial and services sectors as weak- both are stronger more frequently than they are weaker.

Interestingly, the leading economic index for Japan has a level standing on the same timeline at its 53rd percentile, above its historic median (median resides at 50) and a year-on-year growth ranking in its 72nd percentile – quite a solid percentile standing.

The Teikoku indices are diffusion metrics. They cover five sectors of which only services have a diffusion value above 50, indicating expansion. And the services index value is at 51.0, not exactly decisively endorsing the trend for expansion. The Teikoku index shows below-50 values for a long string of values across sectors with only services above 50 consistently- but only for the last 13-months. The levels of the values for Teikoku are above their ranking of 50 on levels across sectors except for manufacturing. This, of course, tells us with such weak current diffusion levels, readings have been persistently weaker and contracting- since current index standings are above their historic medians broadly and yet current diffusion values also are broadly below 50! Growth rankings of current indices are all below their historic medians indicating that there is no revival in progress.

The economy watchers survey also employs diffusion indices across sectors and for employment as well as with a future index. In diffusion terms the selected indices show below-50 readings for retailing and for the current economy-watchers headline. Employment, the future index, and services, as well as eating and drinking place, show above-50 readings on diffusion. But the rankings on the year-on-year growth for these metrics in uniformly below 50 – revealing below-normal growth (below median, formally) for these indices. The index level rankings show all readings above their historic medians except for employment.

On balance Japan’s data show a great deal of substandard performance and a prolonged period of substandard results. None of this- however memorialized by statistics is surprising to any Japan economy watchers. Japan is dealing with a long-term population decline that policy has not yet addressed. It is ending a period of deflation flirtation and a period of extraordinary central bank stimulus to combat that situation. In the wake of Covid and persistent Bank of Japan stimulative policy, Japan has distanced itself from deflation, but policy is still trying to evaluate where the inflation situation stands. The yen is weakening and once again Japan’s policy faces challenges.
by:Robert Brusca
|in:Economy in Brief
Europe| May 17 2024
EMU Inflation Holds the line 2% Beckons
EMU Inflation Trends Offer Hope and Hype- Inflation in the European Monetary Union rose by 0.2% month-to-month in April, the same as in March. Core inflation, however, picked up, rising by 0.4% but that was after being flat in March. The sequential growth rates from 12-months to six-months to three-months show the headline inflation rate at 2.4% over 12-months falling to 2% over 6-months, then rising to a 3% annual rate over three-months. The core rate for the monetary union rose 2.9% over 12-months at a 2.7% annual rate over six-months, it steps up to a 2.8% annual rate over three-months. Headline inflation is resisting moving down to the 2% level consistently while core inflation appears to be stuck just short of 3%. Whether these trends are good enough depends on whether the ECB sees itself implementing precision-guided policy or playing horseshoes and hand grenades.
by:Robert Brusca
|in:Economy in Brief
Japan| May 16 2024
Japan’s IP Jumps but… Everybody Knows This is Nowhere
Despite a sharp 4.5% month-to-month jump in Japan’s industrial production, a gain much larger than expected, Japan’s production index is still lower on balance over three-months six-months and twelve-months. It is still 5.8% below its level in January 2020 before Covid struck and it is only 87% of its past cycle peak. The March jump by itself is impressive and welcome, but Japan still has so far to go to repair the disruption it has had in manufacturing and across industry.
by:Robert Brusca
|in:Economy in Brief
Global| May 14 2024
ZEW Survey Shows Improvements in German Expectations and Conditions
The economic situation, surveyed by the ZEW's survey, showed improvement in the euro area to -38.6 in May from -48.8 in April. The German survey improved to -72.3 in May from -79.2 in April. However, the economic situation in the United States lost some of its luster, with its index falling to 40.9 in May from 48.5 in April.

The survey for expectations in Germany improved to 47.1 in May from 42.9 in April. For the U.S., macroeconomic expectations remained negative at -13 in May, weaker than the -0.7 reading in April.

Inflation expectations and showing moved away from the view is an inflation was continuing to fall as the euro area continued to post a negative value of -45.6 in May, but that was stronger than the -49.1 in April. Germany's reading rose to -41.0 in May from -47.8 in April. The reading for the U.S. was much less changed, at -41 in May compared to -42.6 in April.

On the back of those expectations, short-term interest rates in the euro area were less intensely forecasted to fall as the headline reading of -80.5 in May rose from -84.6 in April. In the U.S., the reading rose to -55.2 in May from -63.7 in April.

Long-term interest rate expectations continue to drop, however. In Germany, expectations for long-term rates fell to -33.5 in May from -26.9 in April. In the U.S., the reading edged lower to -28.3 in May from -26.5 in April. The outlook for lower long-term interest rates is still intact.

Stock market performance in May is stronger in the U.S., euro area, and Germany. This is despite some minor degradation in the assessment for current conditions and expectations in the U.S. Euro area stock market expectations showed its diffusion value of 23.3 in May, up from 7.2 in April. The German reading rose to 18.7 in May from 3.8 in April. The U.S. index in May rose to 21.5 from 9.9 in April. All-in-all, the ZEW survey participants are becoming much more constructive on the stock market as they become modestly and more constructive on the bond market.

Despite these various shifts in the survey, the percentile standings of most of these indicators remain extremely weak: for example, economic situation assessments stand in the 41st percentile for the euro area, the 17th percentile for Germany but manage to rise above the neutral mark of 50 to the 58.1 percentile in the U.S. Economic expectations in Germany have crept up to a 68.8 percentile reading compared to only a 32.3 percentile reading in the U.S. Inflation expectations everywhere remain low with the euro area and the U.S. having percentile standings below their 10th percentile, while in Germany they post a still-low value in its 14th percentile- all those are very low readings. Short-term interest rate expectations in the euro area have been lower only 4.1% of the time; in the U.S. they've been lower only 9.3% of the time. Long-term rate expectations have been lower in Germany only 2.2% of the time and in the U.S. only 1.9% of the time on the ZEW survey metric. Participants continue to look for extremely low long-term interest rates. The stock market expectations, while up sharply in the month, have only reached the 24th percentile for Germany, the 12th percentile for the euro area and the 38th percentile for the U.S. On balance, stock market expectations haven’t reached their median values in any of these areas and although they've improved the outlook for their performance is still muted.
by:Robert Brusca
|in:Economy in Brief
Japan| May 10 2024
Japan’s Economy Watchers Index Sinks in April
Japan’s economy watchers index stayed below the breakeven threshold of 50 in April, falling further to 47.4 from a level of 49.8 in March. These numbers compare to a reading of 51.3 in February. Over 12 months, the economy watchers index has fallen by 5.9 points. It made 3.3 points of that drop over six months and 2.8 points of that drop over three months. Taking the April level of the economy watchers index and expressing it as a percentile standing, the level is at 49.8%. A standing below its 50th percentile means it is below its median when ranked among data since April 2003.

The economy watchers subindexes across industries and the other functional categories show slippage (diffusion below 50) for each one between March and April. In addition, all categories weakened in March compared to February except for the reading for eating and drinking places and the reading for employment. And many March diffusion readings are below 50. The economy watchers index is clearly on a run of weakness.

Overall the current index ranks below its historic median as we noted above; components that are below their median values are retailing, manufacturing corporations, and employment. The employment reading is the weakest one in the table with the standing only at its 29.6 percentile. At that ranking, it sits near the top of the lower third of all observations since April 2003. That's an all-too-weak reading for such an important index for the economy.

Sequential changes in the current index show over three months all components are lower on balance except nonmanufacturing firms. Over six months, all components are lower on balance except nonmanufacturing firms and housing. Over 12 months all components are lower on balance except for housing. The Bank of Japan has had some concern about inflation and these concerns have become a bit more two-sided; a weakening economy is not going to allow the BOJ to raise interest rates and to proceed in its objective of returning monetary policy to a range of normalcy. Consumer spending in Japan has been weakening as well. Overall, the economy watchers index fits into a profile of an economy that's weakening rather than strengthening.

The future index The economy watchers index has a future component. This component also weakened in April compared to March and has slipped below a diffusion value of 50, dropping to 48.5 in April from 51.2 in March. This indicates falling expectations. The percentile standing of the future index is in its 47.8 percentile, below its historic median also on data back to April 2003. All the readings for the future index have diffusion values below 50 in April except for employment, which moved up slightly to 51.3 in April from 49.4 in March. And all the components in April weakened compared to March except for that employment reading. In addition, all the components in March had weakened compared to February except for retailing. This gain is broad-based weakening clustering at values close to the diffusion level of 50 that marks the dividing line between expansion and contraction.

Like the current index, the future index is mired in a patch of weakness. Over three months all the future indexes are lower on balance with the headline falling by 4 points over three months. Over six months all of the components are lower on balance except for retailing that is up by 0.7 points. The future headline is lower by 1.3 points over six months. Over 12 months all the components are lower without exception and the headline is lower by 6.1 points.

Clearly, expectations have been scaled back for Japan’s economic performance. The headline’s 47.8 percentile standing leaves it below its historic median. This result is, in part, generated by a housing reading below its median at the 39.1 percentile and by manufacturers with a 39.5 percentile standing. Employment has a 43.5 percentile standing which is below its median but not as weak relative to other past future readings as the current index for employment is weak compared to its past index values. So as weak as the current economy is on the employment side, the future economy doesn't have the same degree of pessimism associated with it as the current index.
by:Robert Brusca
|in:Economy in Brief
Ireland| May 09 2024
Irish Inflation Trends Keep Pointing Lower
Ireland continues to produce good inflation news in April. The HICP index rose by 0.1% in April logging a 1.6% increase from a year ago, well within the target set by the European Central Bank for inflation in the entire Monetary Union. Ireland also reported a 0.3% increase in April for its domestic CPI gauge; that gauge is up 2.8% over 12 months. Ireland's CPI core fell by 0.1% in April and it's higher by 3.5% over 12 months. The annual rate difference between the inflation rate for the European Monetary Union inflation index known as the HICP, and Ireland's domestic CPI appears wide at 1.6% versus 2.8%; yet, both year-over-year changes are at 33-month lows. The domestic CPI core inflation rate is at a 27-month low. While these three gauges measure inflation in slightly different ways, it's quite clear that for the measure that each chooses to assess inflation, each has made a substantial reduction from where it has been and that all three gauges are showing substantial as well as ongoing inflation progress.

Different metrics but tracking the same forces However, since Covid stuck, the differences between the core and the HICP and HICP and CPI have become magnified. Much of that is because of the growing difference in inflation lags and developments between the core and the headlines when inflation accelerates due to different causes. Still, the CPI headline and the HICP headline are more inconsistent than they were prior to August 2021. In the earlier period, there would be a standard deviation between the headline readings of annual inflation of 0.2%; that has grown to 0.6% after August 2021. However, the difference has shown signs of declining recently. The correlation between the headline HIPC and core has actually improved in the Covid period. This reinforces the belief that inflation is a singular force being tracked by both methods with differences stemming from their methodologies and weights rather than there being different underlying inflation dynamics at work.

Sequential results Sequentially the ECB inflation measure, the HICP, rises by 1.6% over 12 months, falls at a 0.5% annual rate over six months and then rises at a modest 1% annual rate over three months. The Irish CPI gauge shows at a 2.8% year-over-year increase, a 0.6% annual rate rise over six months and a 1.6% annual rate gain over three months. Ireland's CPI core rate rises 3.5% over 12 months, at a 1.6% annual rate over six months and at a 2% at an annual rate over three months. All three gauges show six-month inflation below 12-month inflation as well as 3-month inflation higher than 6-month inflation but also 3-month inflation below the pace of its 12-month gain. So once again, we can look at different inflation measures and the absolute reading on inflation is going to be different depending on what we mix into the pot. Regardless of that, it appears that the overall inflation pressures in Ireland are consistent and behaving in a similar fashion regardless of which of these metrics we look at.

Inflation across categories The diffusion gauge for the domestic CPI, which looks at accelerations across the CPI categories, marks accelerations as the value of 1 and unchanged inflation as the value of 0.5. Summing these and presenting them are proportional results, produces a diffusion rating at 50% when inflation is accelerating and decelerating in equal proportions, a value above 50% when inflation is accelerating in more categories, and a value of below 50% when inflation is decelerating in more categories. Inflation diffusion for Ireland is at 33.3% over 12 months, 33.3% over six months, but rises to 54.2% over three months. This calculation shows us that 12-month inflation compared to 12-months ago is decelerating in nearly 70% of the categories; that, over six months compared to 12 months, inflation is also still decelerating in nearly 70% of the categories. But, over three months, the inflation rate accelerated in slightly over half of the categories. And that's not surprising. Look at how the headline inflation rate for the CPI and for the core performed over this period. Although the diffusion calculation doesn't necessarily agree in all cases with changes in the headline diffusion and the weighted inflation headlines show the same trends. Diffusion is a separate measure that looks at the breadth of the inflation trend by assessing whether inflation is rising or falling across the various categories and then toting up the results. The diffusion measure neither looks at the magnitude of the change in inflation nor imposes any weight across the categories; it is simply looking at the change in inflation across various categories.
by:Robert Brusca
|in:Economy in Brief
Germany| May 08 2024
German IP Falls in March after Two Months of Strong Gains
German industrial production was strong in January and February but March brough a setback as IP slipped back by 0.4% month-to-month. In March, month-to-month IP fell in all major IP categories except capital goods where it edged ahead by 0.1%.

Sequential trends Sequentially, German IP shows signs of life and of acceleration. The month’s small setback has not reversed that, but since it is an early setback in a process of recovery that is long overdue there is some skepticism about whether the rebound will be sustained. Persisting acceleration is exhibited in the headlines and in all three key sectors. Still, the year-on-year change shows a net drop for the headline and all components. Capital goods still show net output declines on all horizons.

Trends year-on-year Year-on-year consumer goods trends (see data plot) show a somewhat sharper move upward in growth rates while intermediate goods show a slow crawl higher – in both cases this means slower year-on-year declines in train. Capital goods trends show less recovery with only a recent bounce from a deep, 6.2% year-on-year decline, logged in January of this year.

Quarter-to-date The QTD trends show strong gains across components and for the IP headline – the exception is capital goods where output is still falling at a 6.3% annual rate, even with all this pickup in activity around it. The failure of capital goods to join the rebound parade is another reason to remain cautious about embracing the notion of the sustainability of the rebound.

Other IP assessments There is a column of queue standings that rank the year-on-year growth rate on annual data over the last 24 years. This ranking produces a standing in the 14.5 percentile for IP overall and sector standings that rank from 39% to 11%. Next, evaluating IP gains from before Covid in January 2020 to date, leaves us with an empty house. There are no net gains! All sectors show the level of IP in March 2024 -a hearty four-year period – containing some major and minor cycles, a sucker punch from Covid and the Russian attack on Ukraine – at lower levels. German industrial output overall and across sectors is weaker on balance and with unclear momentum. Statistically the momentum looks good right now, but it still must show its sustainability.

Other German manufacturing metrics Manufacturing output on its own follows the same script as for overall IP. However- ominously- real manufacturing orders do not. They show the opposite case, an implosion of sequential growth rates culminating in a drop at a nearly 40% annual rate over three months. Real sales also show a steady diet of declines without much trend but with their weakest reading over the more recent period. The queue standings of the annual growth rates are low.

German surveys The monthly survey results are a mixed bag of monthly trends. The sequential averages, however, show a trend to deterioration of all four industrial metrics, save one (IFO manufacturing). QTD the survey results are split. The queue standings of the surveys are uniformly weak in the ranking range of 10-15-percentile…quite weak.

Other Europe MFG IP Other Europe presents a split view. Monthly data for the four European nations in the table are mixed. Trends from 12-month to 6-month to 3-month are showing acceleration for Spain and Portugal vs. a clear trend to deceleration in France. Norway, a non-EMU country, shows unclear trends but only exhibits an output decline over 12 months. However, the IP standings for the four European nations in the table all are superior to Germany’s. Germany traditionally is the European powerhouse on this metric. Remember this is an individual ranking metric; it does not rank countries against one another. Germany’s own ranking is 14.5%, Spain’s own ranking is 77.7%, France and Portugal have mid 40-perentile rankings, while Norway has a 37-percentile ranking. Comparing each to its own normal performance over the last 24 years, all countries are doing better than Germany. Not surprisingly, German output has fallen by 8.7% since January 2020 compared to a net 4.6% drop for France, a net 2.8% drop for Portugal, a net 0.9% drop for Norway, and an 8.1% rise for Spain. Europe is not operating as it has in traditionally normal times. Covid and the Russian invasion have turned Europe on its head…and it is still there, despite some early signs Germany may be mounting a recovery.
by:Robert Brusca
|in:Economy in Brief
Germany| May 07 2024
German Orders Are Still Challenged; Volatile Foreign Orders May Show Some Recovery
Real German orders fell by 0.4% month-to-month in March after falling by 0.8% month-to-month in February. These two declines followed a much larger 10.9% drop in real orders posted in January of this year. Foreign orders in March rose by 2% after falling by 2.2% in February and falling by 10.8% in January. Domestic orders were basically on that same roller coaster, falling by 3.6% month-to-month in March after rising 1% in February and falling by 10.9% month-to-month in January. January was a tough month for German orders no matter where you look; since January, there hasn't been any recovery in German orders.

Sequential Real Orders But the sharp drop in orders in January, just three months ago, sets the stage for the three-month annual rate in orders to decline sharply; it falls at a nearly 40% annual rate compared to a 5.9% annual rate decline over six months and a 1.7% decline over 12 months. Foreign orders and domestic orders show similar progressions as you can see in the table. With the extra drop over three months, it does not make much sense to dwell on whether the declining pattern is sequentially enabled or not.

Real Sales Real sales by sector are less affected by whatever machinations are buffeting orders. Sales across categories fell in March after posting a full slate of monthly gains in February. That followed a near-full-slate of declines in January, with consumer nondurables an exception to the weakness and one that showed enough strength to boost overall consumer goods sales to a gain as well. Sequentially real sector sales show declines on all horizons, a series that barely escapes showing progressive weakness but annualized sales over three months are weaker than sales over 12 months.

Q1 Assessment March completes the orders and sales data for the first quarter; that finds orders falling at an 11.3% annual rate with similar drops for both domestic and foreign orders. Real sector sales in the quarter fall at a 1.8% annual rate on declines across categories except over all consumer sales and consumer nondurable goods sales.
by:Robert Brusca
|in:Economy in Brief