Menu

comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, released its annual Online Credit Card Report, which provides a comprehensive look at the U.S. online credit card industry over the past year. The report focuses on shifts in the industry related to improving consumer perceptions of the economic environment, card features most likely to influence card shopping decisions, and the growing importance of online servicing for issuers. The report draws its analysis from comScore’s research panel of 1 million U.S. consumers and a comScore survey of nearly 2,000 U.S. Internet users conducted in December 2010. Among its findings, the study reveals a greater percentage of card shopping activity among consumers who reported having a more positive view of the economy.

Median weekly earnings of the nation's 98.3 million full-time wage and salary workers were $755 in the first quarter of 2011 (not seasonally adjusted), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. This was 0.1 percent higher than a year earlier, compared with a gain of 2.1 percent in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) over the same period.

Despite largely positive forecasts for the U.S. auto industry based on a recent uptick in sales, a new survey reports that auto executives are still pessimistic about the industry’s outlook. Conducted by management consulting firm Booz & Company, the survey found that auto manufacturers and suppliers expect vehicle sales to reach 14.5 million units by 2015, compared to predictions by leading industry forecasters of sales exceeding 16 million vehicles in the same timeframe. However, auto executives balanced this overall pessimistic view with upbeat growth forecasts for their own companies.

The Asian automotive market in the U.S. grew at a faster pace than the overall automotive market in 2010, according to Polk. New vehicle registrations among Asian-Americans in 2010 grew 10.4 percent over 2009 and accounted for 438,430 vehicles, signaling a slight improvement in market share among this audience. The Asian-American automotive market accounted for 5.1 percent of the overall market in 2010, according to Polk analysis. Overall market growth in 2010 was 7.8 percent over 2009.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index®(LEI) for China increased 0.3 percent in February to 155.3 (2004 = 100), following a 0.2 percent increase in January and a 0.5 percent decline in December. Three of the six components contributed positively to the index in February.

Most large employers are now beginning to rethink their retiree health care strategy as a result of federal health care reform, according to a recent report by Aon Hewitt, the global human resource consulting and outsourcing business of Aon Corporation.

In February 2011 the seasonally adjusted current account of the euro area recorded a deficit of EUR 7.2 billion. In the financial account, combined direct and portfolio investment recorded net inflows of EUR 71 billion (non-seasonally adjusted). At the end of the fourth quarter of 2010 the international investment position of the euro area recorded net liabilities of EUR 1.2 trillion vis-à-vis the rest of the world (approximately 13% of euro area GDP). This represented a reduction of EUR 187 billion in comparison with the revised data for the end of the third quarter of 2010.

According to the latest available data, the EU27 external current account recorded a deficit of 18.2 billion euro in the fourth quarter of 2010, compared with a deficit of 4.8 bn in the fourth quarter of 2009 and a deficit of 15.5 bn in the third quarter of 2010.

In the construction sector, seasonally adjusted production fell by 0.7% in the euro area (EA17), but rose by 0.7% in the EU27 in February 2011, compared with the previous month. In January, production increased by 3.6% and 1.0% respectively.

As the global economy continues to improve, so too do the expectations of global companies, with 61 percent expecting to transfer more employees in 2011 than in recent years, according to the just-released 2011 Global Relocation Trends Survey Report, published by Brookfield Global Relocation Services.