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CoreLogic, a leading provider of information, analytics and business services, released its March Home Price Index (HPI) which shows that home prices in the U.S. declined for the eighth month in a row. According to the CoreLogic HPI, national home prices, including distressed sales, declined by 7.5 percent in March 2011 compared to March 2010 after declining by 5.8 percent* in February 2011 compared to February 2010. Excluding distressed sales, year-over-year prices declined by 0.96 percent in March 2011 compared to March 2010 and by 2.0 percent in February 2011 compared to February 2010. Distressed sales include short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Korea increased 0.7 percent and The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) for Korea increased 0.9 percent in March.

In April, the total value added of the industrial enterprises above designated size was up 13.4 percent year-on-year, or 1.4 percentage points lower than that in March 2011.

U.S. import prices increased 2.2 percent in April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported, after rising 2.6 percent the previous month. Higher fuel and nonfuel prices contributed to the advances in each month. Prices for U.S. exports increased 1.1 percent in April following a 1.5 percent advance the previous month.

The OECD area unemployment rate of 8.2% in March 2011 was unchanged from February following three consecutive monthly decreases. The Euro area unemployment rate was also stable at 9.9%.

Fiserv, Inc. released an analysis of home price trends in more than 375 U.S. markets based on the Fiserv® Case-Shiller Indexes®. The indexes are owned and generated by Fiserv, the leading global provider of financial services technology solutions, and data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

In the fourth quarter of 2010, the annual growth rate of net disposable income in the euro area remained broadly unchanged at 3.1%, compared with 3.0% in the third quarter of 2010. The annual growth rate of final consumption in the euro area decreased to 2.5% in the fourth quarter (2010q3: 2.7%). Gross fixed capital formation increased by 2.8% in the fourth quarter of 2010, compared with 2.1% in the previous quarter.

The Conference Board Employment Trends Index™ (ETI) declined 0.6 percent in April to 100.5, down from March’s revised figure of 101.1. This is the largest monthly decline since April 2009. The April figure is up 6 percent from a year ago.

Composite leading indicators (CLIs), designed to anticipate turning points in economic activity relative to trend, are pointing to some divergence in the pace of economic activity across major economies. Compared with last month’s assessment, this month’s CLIs point to a slower or stable pace of expansion in most EU countries and continued expansion in North America, China and Russia.

The Italian economy is continuing to recover from the very deep recession that it shared with most OECD countries, but more can be done to boost resilience, according to a new OECD report. A combination of well-targeted macroeconomic and structural policies would help achieve sustained growth, as well as contribute to fiscal consolidation, it adds.