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An increasing number of U.S. companies are suspending their employer 401(k) match in response to continued cost pressures. While the move is controversial, it is not surprising given today’s economic climate. According to a new analysis by Hewitt Associates, a global human resources consulting and outsourcing company, most companies could save millions of dollars by suspending their 401(k) match for only one year. Despite significant cost savings, Hewitt recommends employers take this step only as a last resort due to the significant impact it has on employees’ ability to save enough for retirement.

Home prices will further decline, unemployment will soar to double digits, and bank solvency issues will reemerge, says Max Bublitz, Chief Strategist at SCM Advisors, an affiliated manager of Virtus Investment Partners.

Poor health among workers is far costlier to U.S. employers than they realize, impacting their profitability and undercutting the nation's overall productivity, according to a major study published this week in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (JOEM).

From January to March, the total investment in real estate development was 488.0 billion yuan, up by 4.1 percent year-on-year, and 3.1 percentage points over the first two months this year, while that of a decrease of 28.2 percentage points over the same period of previous year. Of which, investment in commercial residential buildings reached 342.2 billion yuan, 3.2 percent of increase year-on-year, or picking up 2.4 percentage points over than the first two months, and 31.5 percentage points dropped over than the same period of previous year, which occupied 70.1 percent of the investment in real estate development.

The three-point fall across the EU came as a result of fluctuations across the major European markets. Italy reported the largest increase in online recruitment activity among the major markets, while Belgium and France also saw growth. These rises were outweighed by contractions in the Netherlands, UK, Germany and Sweden. On an annual basis, online recruitment activity fell most in the Netherlands, UK and Sweden. The fall in March reflected continuing harsh economic conditions in the EU, as numerous large companies reorganised to lessen their exposure.

£156.9 billion (€168.5 billion) worth of equity trading was carried out across the equity order books of the London Stock Exchange Group during March. This was an increase of 32 per cent on the total value traded during February, and the highest total for a single month’s trading since October last year, though down by 38 per cent on the same month last year. The total number of trades also exceeded recent months, though at 23.4 million was down by 11 per cent on March 2008.

Job security emerged as a top financial concern for Americans amid a 16-month U.S. economic recession, according to a poll conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

The unemployment rate for the OECD area was 7.3% in February 2009, 0.3 percentage point higher than the previous month and 1.7 percentage points higher than a year earlier.

OECD composite leading indicators (CLIs) for February 2009 continue to point to a deep slowdown for all the major seven economies. Although some tentative signs of improvement in the rate of deterioration in the outlook are appearing in some countries, noticeably Italy, France and in some of the smaller OECD countries, the emphasis on ‘tentative’ cannot be overstated. The picture for all countries remains weak with the outlook in the United States, Canada, Japan and the major non-OECD member economies in particular, further deteriorating since last month.

The Deloitte Consumer Spending Index fell in March as the recent growth in real wages stalled due to rising energy prices. The Index attempts to track consumer cash flow as an indicator of future consumer spending.