Menu

There were 2.4 million job openings on the last business day of November 2009, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The job openings rate was little changed over the month at 1.8 percent. The openings rate has held relatively steady since March 2009. The hires rate (3.2 percent) and the separations rate (3.3 percent) were essentially unchanged in November. This release includes estimates of the number and rate of job openings, hires, and separations for the total nonfarm sector by industry and geographic region.

According to a new study by BDO, one of the nation’s leading accounting and consulting organizations, capital markets executives at leading investment banks are bullish on the U.S. initial public offering (IPO) market for 2010. More than two-thirds (68%) believe IPO activity will increase this year compared to 2009, with almost a quarter (24%) describing the increase as substantial. Only 5 percent of the survey participants expect a decrease in IPOs in 2010, while 27 percent forecast activity as flat with 2009. Overall, bankers predict a 25 percent increase in the number of U.S. IPOs in 2010. They expect these offerings to average just over $400 million ($409M) in size.

Despite emerging relatively undamaged by the financial crisis, the US property-casualty industry still faces serious tests in 2010, according to Ernst & Young's Global Insurance Center 2010 U.S. Property-Casualty (P/C) Insurance Industry Outlook.

Seventy-four percent of U.S. healthcare executives polled believe the U.S. healthcare system is in crisis and they are concerned healthcare reform legislation may negatively impact the quality of care and hospitals’ profit margins, according to the findings of the 2009 National Survey on the Impact of Technology in Healthcare Reform.

Retail stores still trump online stores as the go-to holiday destination, but online retailers are delivering higher customer satisfaction, according to a post-holiday survey of 400 people conducted by advertising agency Allen & Gerritsen (a&g).

Commercial mortgage defaults will be highly elevated in 2010 and could wipe out profits at a number of U.S. banks. But it does not appear that this problem will morph into a true crisis that would endanger U.S. or global financial systems. These are the key conclusions of a research study published by SMR Research Corp. It is entitled The Commercial Mortgage Dilemma: Banking's Next Credit Challenge.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index™ (LEI) for Japan increased 1.7 percent The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index™ (CEI) increased 0.2 percent in November.

U.S. private equity fund-raising closed out its worst year for fundraising since 2003 with 331 funds raising $95.8 billion, down 68% from the $299.9 billion raised by 508 funds in 2008, according to figures from Dow Jones LP Source. With the lone exception of secondary funds, every sector experienced sharp slowdowns.

The unemployment rate for the OECD area was 8.8% in November 2009, the same as the previous month and 2.1 percentage points higher than a year earlier.

Online recruitment activity held steady at the end of 2009, as businesses maintained their recruitment levels during the busy holiday season. Despite the flat reading, the Index noted three percent growth over the last quarter of 2009.