The Conference Board announced today that the leading index for the U.K increased 0.2 percent, and the coincident index increased 0.2 percent in September.
Need a little extra spending money for the holidays? Twenty-three percent of hiring managers say they are recruiting for holiday positions, according to a recent CareerBuilder.com survey. Nearly one-in-four expect to pay their seasonal hires more than last year, with 37 percent offering $10 or more per hour. The CareerBuilder.com survey, "Holiday Jobs," was completed in September and included 1,150 hiring managers nationwide.
A recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive(R) on behalf of ShareBuilder found that just 14 percent of America's small business owners offer a 401(k) plan and 63 percent do not offer any form of retirement benefits to their employees. This is despite the fact that when it comes to their own personal retirement security, nearly half (47 percent) indicated they are not confident that they are prepared for retirement.
Following a correction in home sales and prices in 2006, existing-home sales are expected to "coast" at roughly the same level next year, although there will be some additional decline in the new-home market, according to a forecast released today at the National Association of Realtors(R) Conference & Expo here.
According to the "European Online Advertising Forecast, 2006 to 2011," released by JupiterResearch, search engine marketing expenditures in Europe are rising, and for the best of all possible reasons — Europeans are buying more online.
Mortgage rates had an eventful week but ended up right back where they started. The average 30-year fixed rate is now 6.32 percent, little changed from 6.31 percent one week ago. According to Bankrate.com's weekly national survey of large lenders, the 30- year fixed rate mortgages had an average of 0.26 discount and origination points.
Euronext, the pan-European stock exchange, is delighted to have been named Exchange of the Year in Structured Products magazine's European Awards for 2006. This is welcome recognition for the work Euronext has put in and the effective innovation it has deployed in the field of listed structured products including warrants, certificates and structured funds.
SGAM Alternative Investments has launched an ETF with embedded capital protection on Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50®. The ETF has been admitted for listing on Euronext.
The New York Stock Exchange today released its weekly program-trading data submitted by its member firms. The report includes trading in all markets as reported to the NYSE for Oct. 30-Nov.3.
