Menu

Despite the Fed's recent proclamation that the "recession has ended," a new survey reveals employees and job seekers may not believe this claim due to continued layoffs and other cutbacks within many companies.

comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, released data from the comScore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending August 2010. The report ranked the leading mobile original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and smartphone operating system (OS) platforms in the U.S. according to their share of current mobile subscribers ages 13 and older, and reviewed the most popular activities and content accessed via the subscriber’s primary mobile phone. The August report found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 23.6 percent market share, while RIM led among smartphone platforms with 37.6 percent market share.

Euro area (EA16) and EU27 GDP increased by 1.0% during the second quarter of 2010, compared with the previous quarter, according to second estimates from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. In the first quarter of 2010, growth rates were +0.3% in the euro area and +0.4% in the EU27.

Real GDP in the OECD area increased by 0.9% in the second quarter of 2010 from the previous quarter, a stronger pace than previously estimated (0.7%). Gross fixed investment was the main contributor to the GDP increase, adding 0.4 percentage point to overall growth. The rise in investment was the first since early 2008, and the pace was the fastest since the first quarter of 2000.

Consumers’ views about the economy were unchanged from August to September, but the number of consumers feeling that their personal finances are getting worse rose for the sixth consecutive month and reached a nine-month high, according to the Discover U.S. Spending Monitor.

Smaller companies all too often endure severe financial problems due to the late payment of bills. For over a year the European Parliament has pushed to secure stricter and clear-cut rules on payment periods, including a general 30-day deadline. On Tuesday, the Internal Market Committee voted to endorse the deal struck with Council on 13 September.

A macro-economic indicator, SpendingPulse reports on national retail and services sales and is based on aggregate sales activity in the MasterCard payments network, coupled with survey-based estimates for certain other payment forms, such as cash and check. MasterCard SpendingPulse does not represent MasterCard financial performance. SpendingPulse is provided by MasterCard Advisors, the professional services arm of MasterCard Worldwide.

Consumer prices in the OECD area rose by 1.6% in the year to August 2010, the same inflation rate as in July. Growth in energy prices slowed down to 4.8% in August compared with 6.2% in July, while consumer prices for food rose by 1.4% compared with 1.1% in July.

In August 2010, compared with July 2010, the volume of retail trade decreased by 0.4% in the euro area (EA16) and by 0.3% in the EU27. In July retail trade rose by 0.1% in both zones.

Between 2000 and 2009, EU27 trade in goods with China tripled in value. EU27 exports to China rose steadily from 26 billion euro in 2000 to 82 bn in 2009, while imports rose from 75 bn in 2000 to a peak of 248 bn in 2008 and then fell to 215 bn in 2009. As a result, the EU27 trade deficit with China increased significantly, from 49 bn in 2000 to 170 bn in 2008 and then dropped to 133 bn in 2009. The data for the first half of 2010 show a strong growth in EU27 trade with China. EU27 exports to China increased from 37 bn in the first half of 2009 to 53 bn in the first half of 2010 and imports rose from 103 bn to 125 bn. The trade deficit grew from 65 bn to 71 bn.