Menu

comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the U.S. search marketplace. Google Sites led the explicit core search market in February with 65.4 percent of searches conducted.

Composite leading indicators (CLIs) for January 2011, designed to anticipate turning points in economic activity relative to trend, continue pointing to expansion in most OECD countries.

The majority of America’s potential homebuyers and sellers - 68 percent - believe that the real estate market and property values will recover in the next year or two, according to a survey released by Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services, Inc., a Prudential Financial, Inc. company. This exceeds the 47 percent of Americans who expected house prices would rise in a similar survey conducted in April 2010, underscoring a more bullish outlook for the real estate market today. In addition, 86 percent of Americans believe real estate is a good investment despite the market volatility of the past few years.

Consumer confidence fell last week to the lowest level in a month as surging gasoline prices soured Americans’ outlook about their finances and the economy.

In the first two months of 2011, the total value added of the industrial enterprises above designated size was up 14.1 percent year-on-year, or 0.6 percentage point higher than that in December 2010.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Korea increased 1.3 percent and The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) increased 0.3 percent in January.

Regional and state unemployment rates were generally unchanged in January. Twentyfour states recorded unemployment rate decreases, 10 states registered rate increases, and 16 states and the District of Columbia had no change, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Thirty-nine states and the District of Columbia posted unemployment rate decreases from a year earlier, 9 states reported increases, and 2 states had no change. The national jobless rate fell by 0.4 percentage point between December 2010 and January 2011 to 9.0 percent, 0.7 point lower than in January 2010.

More than two-thirds of business professionals surveyed recently believe their companies are likely to attempt at least one divestiture - if not more - in the next three years, according to a survey from Deloitte about divestitures.

As financial services leaders re-examine their businesses in light of regulatory and policy changes, several tax developments stand out as critical if they are to successfully manage their growth, according to tax specialists at KPMG LLP, the U.S. audit, tax and advisory firm.

Mortgage rates showed little change this week, with the benchmark conforming 30-year fixed mortgage rate now 5.04 percent, according to Bankrate.com's weekly national survey. The average 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.42 discount and origination points.