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Led by rising investment confidence and expectations for the future, the most recent results of the RBC CASH (Consumer Attitudes and Spending by Household) Index show a sharp upswing in consumer sentiment for August 2009, reversing the slide of the previous two months. The RBC CASH Index for August stands at 37.5, a 15.1 point increase from July's 22.4 reading. Although consumer sentiment remains volatile, the Index saw improvement in all four of its sub-indices, which measure consumers' views of current conditions, their expectations for the future and their confidence in investing and job security.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index™ (LEI) for Japan increased 1.0 percent while The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index™ (CEI) decreased 0.1 percent in June.

The Discover U.S. Spending Monitor fell for the second consecutive month from 85.6 to 83.5 (based out of 100), as consumer attitudes towards the economy and the current state of their personal finances continued to deteriorate. Overall, 61 percent rated current economic conditions as poor, a 2-point increase from the previous month.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index™ (LEI) for the U.K. increased 1.0 percent, and The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index™ (CEI) increased 0.1 percent in June.

Individual investors are increasingly taking investing into their own hands, according to a survey of 450 retail investors conducted by leading online broker Zecco (www.zecco.com) between July 27-31, 2009. The survey also indicates that investors are optimistic about the short-term future of the Dow and technology and energy stocks, and are dipping into their savings accounts -- coming "off of the sidelines" -- to buy equities.

The global mobile gaming market will grow at a 16.6 percent CAGR to reach $18 billion in 2014, driven by the explosive mobile subscriber growth in emerging markets, according to the latest report by Pyramid Research (www.pyr.com), the telecom research arm of the Light Reading Communications Network (www.lightreading.com).

There is a silver lining to the continuing recession for the majority of small businesses, with two-thirds of owners reporting they are finding new ways to operate more efficiently. This finding is revealed in the latest Small Business Success Index™, an ongoing measurement of the overall health of U.S. small businesses sponsored by Network Solutions® (www.networksolutions.com) and the Center for Excellence in Service at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business (www.rhsmith.umd.edu). The index, based on a June 2009 telephone survey of 500 small business owners, also found that small businesses’ mood has brightened compared to six months ago, with 38% of small business owners expecting the economy to improve in the next 12 months, compared to the 23% who felt this way in January. In June, only 28% of small business owners expected the economy to decline in the next 12 months, compared to nearly half (48%) just six months ago.

Despite signs that the global economic free fall may be over, conditions in the commercial real estate sector remain extremely stressed. A financing drought and declining property fundamentals are pushing up both "maturity" and "performance" defaults on commercial mortgages, threatening to undermine the economy's longer term ability to create jobs and grow, according to The Real Estate Roundtable's latest quarterly survey of senior commercial real estate executives.

While the nation's health care industry invests hundreds of billions of dollars each year in new technology and infrastructure to care for an increasingly aging population, its most important investment should be in its people, according to a new white paper published by the Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement.

Strativity Group (www.Strativity.com) announced it will be unveiling the surprising results of their Customer Experience consumer study today.