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In the case of new or used car purchases or leases, Autobytel’s most recent What’s Hot Now report reveals that consumers are looking to lease or buy a car out of necessity over the next 12 months, even though they may not have increased confidence in the economy.

comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, reported holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 49 days of the November – December 2010 holiday season. For the holiday season-to-date, $28.36 billion has been spent online, marking a 12-percent increase versus the corresponding days last year. The most recent week (week ending Dec. 19) reached $5.5 billion in spending, an increase of 14 percent versus the corresponding week last year. The final shopping weekend before Christmas reached $900 million in retail e-commerce spending, representing a strong 17-percent growth rate versus last year.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Mexico increased 1.5 percent and The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index ® (CEI) increased 0.4 percent in October.

A third of America’s small business owners are using smart phones these days, and most of them are putting the devices to work for business needs beyond e-mail and phone calls, according to a recent survey from Discover.

Findings from a new GfK Roper Poll, conducted on behalf of SapientNitro, part of Sapient, demonstrate that American consumers are increasingly empowered by their mobile devices when it comes to researching products and finding the best prices while holiday shopping.

Mortgage rates pulled back slightly this week, with the average rate on the benchmark conforming 30-year fixed mortgage rate receding to 4.96 percent, according to Bankrate.com's weekly national survey. The average 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.46 discount and origination points.

Based on the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs (ICSC-GS) holiday consumer tracking survey, 15 percent or 23.1 million consumers (16 years of age or older) plan to shop on Christmas Eve (December 24).

While more than half (56%) of Americans had dutifully completed their holiday shopping by Dec. 19, nearly one in five hadn't even begun. As a result, those stragglers will be out in force on Christmas Eve, with an estimated 10 percent of consumers hitting the malls in a last-ditch attempt to beat the deadline, according to a nationally representative Consumer Reports Holiday Shopping Poll.

Amid a surge in feelings of financial security, middle-class families are unexpectedly easing their frugal spending behaviors for the holidays.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Germany increased 0.8 percent and The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) increased 0.3 percent in October.