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President Barroso and Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs have welcomed adoption of new rules on the internal energy market by the Council following a positive vote by the European Parliament in April. The new legislation is expected to strengthen the EU's internal energy market, give consumers more protection and the benefit of the lowest possible energy prices while offering companies the chance to compete on a level playing field.

From January to May, the profits of industrial enterprises above designated size (enterprises with an annual sales over 5 million yuan, same as follows) reached 850.2 billion yuan, decreased by 22.9 percent year-on-year.

Following a year-long period of exceptional volatility in 2008, the world's population of high net worth individuals (HNWIs(1)) was down 14.9 percent from the year before and the population of ultra high net worth individuals (Ultra-HNWIs(2)) fell 24.6 percent, according to the 13th annual World Wealth Report, released by Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management and Capgemini. The decrease in population was matched by a 19.5 percent drop in HNWI wealth to $32.8 trillion. The unprecedented declines wiped out two years of robust growth in 2006 and 2007, reducing both the HNWI population and its wealth to below levels seen at the close of 2005.

During the first four months of 2009, new car registrations dropped by 15.1% in Western Europe - and by 21.4% in the 10 new EU Member States.

In a recent survey of 127 institutional investors, TheMarkets.com found that nearly 40% of those surveyed think that the market has already rebounded, hitting its bottom earlier this year.

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was slightly higher this week, rising to 5.80 percent, according to Bankrate.com's weekly national survey. The average 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.45 discount and origination points.

Consumers are unwilling to part with their broadband services at home even in the midst of the economic downturn, preferring to cut spending on things like dining out and leisure travel, according to a series of recent studies sponsored by Alcatel-Lucent.

HSBC Bank International revealed that the current economic crisis has had a significant impact on expats' financial situation, according to the world's largest survey of expats, Expat Explorer. The first of three instalments of this year's survey, Expat Economics, showed that expats have reduced spending across the board, with the UK and the US identified as having some of the highest numbers of expats considering a move home.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) into 17 OECD countries, including France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US, fell by 50% in the first quarter of 2009 compared with the last quarter of 2008, according to estimates by the OECD released at the OECD Forum in Paris.

Based on first preliminary estimates for 2008, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per inhabitant expressed in Purchasing Power Standards (PPS) varied from 40% to 253% of the EU27 average across the Member States.