The Conference Board Help-Wanted Advertising Index was unchanged in April. The Index remains at 19, the same level as in March, but down 10 points from one year ago.
Fixed mortgage rates reversed the decline seen last week, with the average conforming 30-year fixed mortgage rate rising to 6.20 percent. According to Bankrate.com's weekly national survey of large lenders, the average 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.47 discount and origination points.
Agricultural commodity prices should ease from their recent record peaks but over the next 10 years they are expected to average well above the mean of the past decade, according to the latest Agricultural Outlook from OECD and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
The annual rate of growth of M3 increased to 10.6% in April 2008, from 10.1% in March 2008. The threemonth average of the annual growth rates of M3 over the period February 2008 - April 2008 declined to 10.7%, from 11.0% in the period January 2008 - March 2008.
In May, the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) decreased further by 1.3 points to 96.7 in the EU and remained unchanged in the euro area at 97.1. In both regions, the ESI stands below its long-term average.
The latest Bloomberg Eurozone Retail Purchasing Managers' Index indicates that European retail sales for May rose the most since April of last year and showed the first increase for three months.
Oil down, then up; the US dollar up, new home sales up, house prices down, along with consumer confidence, production of so-called durable goods higher, US interest rates jump. Charting the course of the American economy gets harder by the day.
Worldwide broadband subscriptions will reach 415 million in 2008, representing one billion discrete broadband users, according to “Broadband Forecast: 1H 2008,” a report just released by Strategy Analytics. The number of broadband subscriptions will continue to grow to 621 million by 2012.
When buying online first became mainstream, one of the most watched metrics for online merchants was the shopping cart abandonment rate. Through site security, consumer education and word-of-mouth about positive experiences, online retailers reduced the percentage of consumers who placed items in their carts but did not end up buying them.
U.S. insurers concentrated their M&A activities domestically in 2007, especially in the property-casualty and health insurance and managed care sectors, and were much less active on the global stage, according to a new study by Conning Research and Consulting.
