So much for de-coupling The US and Europe, arguably, have never been more in sync (or maybe I should say sink) than they are right now. Europes MFG PMI is holding up as is the MFG index in the US. Oddly, in both countries, it is [...]
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| Feb 05 2008Europe’s Service Index Drops as US ‘Service’ Index Collapses
- Global| Feb 04 2008
PPI Main Sector Trends Still Excessive But Lose Some Momentum
PPI Trends. PPI trends are accelerating for the headline measure as well as for key country level headlines for inflation.In the Euro area inflation continues to flare for energy and for MFG goods more generally. Capital goods [...]
- Global| Feb 01 2008
NTC Shows a Rebound in Europe
The NTC MFG PMIs show that EMU MFG took a hit to growth late in 2007 but has been on a steady mend since then. The EU Commission readings do not share such a benign view as that report’s industrial sector as its readings are still [...]
- Global| Jan 31 2008
EU and Country Level Confidence is Still Sinking
At 103.2, the EU confidence index fell by two points following a nearly one point drop in December. The sentiment index now resides at the border of the 70th percentile of its range since 1990. In absolute terms services and the [...]
- Global| Jan 31 2008
German Retail Sales Continue to Slow
German retail sales in December did nothing to make large piles of presents appear under the old tanenbaum. Retail sales ex autos, German clothing sales and vehicle sales (that lag for now) each shows a dwindling trend. In the fourth [...]
- Global| Jan 29 2008
ISAE Biz Confidence Edges Lower
The ISAE business index is still in a weakening trend. However, it currently only hovers near the midpoint of a range it has occupied over the last eight years. But looking at the table below we see that the domestic economy is [...]
- Global| Jan 29 2008
UK Retail Sector Continues to Ramp Down
Weakness remains in play in the UK retail sector. In January the ‘+4’ orders and sales results continue a trend of progressively weaker net balance results that extends back to early 2007. Still those readings bested the ‘-5’ for [...]
- Global| Jan 28 2008
Money Growth
On the face of it money supply growth should not give us much cause to fear recession. The US and UK show slowdowns in high frequency growth rates of money supply but only the US three-month rate is a negative one; and three-month [...]
- Global| Jan 25 2008
French Biz Confidence Hovers Just Short of Recent Highs
France’s business climate indicator is steady this month at 109; over 12 months the index is rising at a steady 2.8% annual rate. Still there is no sign of advance in the index since March of 2007 when it has hovered between 108 and [...]
- Global| Jan 25 2008
Excluding Energy, Trends are Turning in Germany
German import prices surged by 0.5%. But strip out energy and the rise is reduced to 0.1%; export prices excluding energy are flat, too. Year-over-year import prices excluding energy are up by 0.1%; export prices on that basis are up [...]
- Global| Jan 24 2008
Italy’s Consumer Confidence Falls Well Below Past Recession-Start Levels
Italy shivers while the Euro Area overheats: What good can come of this? Not only is PM Prodi having a difficult time, but so is the Italian consumer. Whatever fate awaits Prodi, the consumer is already giving a vote of no-confidence [...]
- Global| Jan 24 2008
Germany’s IFO Index Bounces on Improved Expectations
Bounce raises the question of EMU-US de-coupling. Apparently Germans agree… They agree with the ECB that weakness does not threaten Germany or Europe and they see better times ahead as the IFO expectations index that looks six months [...]
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