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According to IDC's Worldwide Handheld QView, vendors shipped a total of 720,000 units during the second quarter of 2007, a 43.5% decrease from the same quarter one year ago and a 21.8% decrease from the previous quarter. This marked the second consecutive quarter in which total worldwide shipments have not crested above the million unit mark.

According to the latest Experian-Gallup Personal Credit Index(SM) survey, 50 percent of consumers are uncomfortable making a major purchase such as a home, a car, major appliances or other significant items over the next three months.

No riseat the US Federal Reserve meeting this morning, our time.The Open Market Committee kept the key Federal Funds rate on hold at 5.25%, judging that the economy was still on an even keel.It was the 9th time rates were left on hold.The Fed did mention the phrase 'downside risks' in its statement in connection with the recent turmoil in financial markets over subprime mortgages and securities.

CCID Consulting has released its latest Research Report on China's IC Industry, January-June 2007. Data shows that thanks to a continuous semiconductor market and a stable electronic information manufacturing industry, China's IC industry continued to maintain a rather fast and stable growth in the first half of 2007. CCID Consulting's statistics show that between January and June, China's IC output totalled 19.74 billion pieces, up 15.2% over the first half of 2006. Sales revenues in the whole industry totalled 60.722 billion Yuan, up 33.2% year-on-year, representing a fallback from the ultra 48% high growth in the first half of 2006.

Even high-wage workers depend on Social Security for a substantial portion of their retirement income, according to a new study published by the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA).

Business leaders in the Asia Pacific have called on APEC Leaders to continue to improve international competitiveness to maintain robust economic growth in their economies and in the region. They have also identified climate change and energy security as fundamental issues for business which require attention from policy-makers.

The online threats associated with using the Internet remain high according to Consumer Reports's latest "State of the Net" survey. Consumer Reports projects that U.S. consumers lost more than $7 billion over the last two years to viruses, spyware, and phishing schemes.

The rich are growing richer faster than the poor in developing Asia, and widening disparities in standards of living can threaten the growth process in one of the most dynamic regions of the world, says a new ADB report.

The number of July IPOs dropped to four compared with eight in July 2006. The highly anticipated IPO of China's Nineyou International Limited, an online game company, was postponed. By market, OSE Hercules accounted for two July IPOs and JASDAQ and Fukuoka Q-Board for the other two. There were no TSE IPOs, making July an extremely quiet month. Furthermore, there were only 77 IPOs during the first seven months of 2007, well below the 101 offerings during the same period of 2006.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported preliminary productivity data-as measured by output per hour of all persons-for the second quarter of 2007. The preliminary seasonally adjusted annual rates of productivity change in the second quarter were: 2.6 percent in the business sector and 1.8 percent in the nonfarm business sector.