The venture capital community is not worried about a greentech investment bubble, and expect investment in the greentech sector to significantly increase in 2009, according to a recent survey by the U.S. audit, tax and advisory firm KPMG LLP.
In August, employers took 1,772 mass layoff actions, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported. Each action involved at least 50 persons from a single employer; the number of workers involved totaled 173,955, on a seasonally adjusted basis.
Standard & Poor's today announced the June results for the S&P/GRA Commercial Real Estate Indices. Nationally, commercial real estate prices are up +1.5% versus June 2007.
SecureWorks has published the locations of the computers, from which the greatest number of cyber attacks were attempted against its clients in 2008. The United States topped the list with 20.6 million attempted attacks originating from computers within the country and China ran second with 7.7 million attempted attacks emanating from computers within its borders.
The credit rating department of Xinhua Finance Limited released its report on "Future Credit Trends in China’s Oil and Natural Gas Industry", which identifies, in addition to macro-economic policy to support stable growth and control inflation, government policy on issues such as refined oil pricing mechanisms and energy security as the primary factor influencing the oil and gas industry’s credit worthiness.
The European Parliament backs a Commission proposal for 2009 to be designated "European Year of Creativity and Innovation". However, while the Commission chiefly wishes to emphasise lifelong learning, the European Parliament proposes a broader focus, highlighting a wider range of EU programmes.
China is now the third biggest national exporter in the global economy after Germany and the US. China now accounts for about 8 % of all imports and 12% of all exports in world trade in goods. More than half of China's exports are currently capitalised by foreign companies. Most of this capitalisation comes from neighbouring Asian companies in Japan and South Korea. 8% of it is European.
Fitch Ratings says the Polish energy market's increasing liberalisation and upcoming privatisation offer growth and diversification opportunities for European utilities. It also presents less expected volatility and risk compared to other countries where energy sectors were recently opened for foreign investors such as Russia and Turkey.
In July 2008 compared with June 2008, the euro area (EA15) industrial new orders index grew by 1.0%. In June the index dropped by 0.5%. In the EU27 new orders increased by 2.3% in July 2008, after remaining stable in June. Excluding ships, railway & aerospace equipment industrial new orders fell by 1.4% in the euro area and by 3.6% in the EU27.
