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For the second year in a row, about two-thirds, or 65% of Americans say that civility is a major problem, according to the annual Civility in America poll released by Weber Shandwick and Powell Tate in partnership with KRC Research. Among the many aspects of American life impacted by incivility – such as politics, sports, schools, workplaces, among others – is American business, considered by 48% of respondents to be uncivil. At a dramatically increased pace from 2010, Americans are voting out incivility with their wallets by severing their patronage to companies (69%), redefining their perceptions of brands (69%), and spreading negative word-of-mouth about companies (58%).

In April 2011 the seasonally adjusted current account of the euro area recorded a deficit of EUR 5.1 billion. In the financial account, combined direct and portfolio investment recorded net inflows of EUR 21 billion (non-seasonally adjusted).

In the wake of the financial crisis, investors (LPs) are driving rapid change in the private equity industry, including a wide-ranging re-balancing of their portfolios and the recruitment of more in-house staff, according to Coller Capital's latest Global Private Equity Barometer.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index®(LEI) for France increased 0.3 percent and The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) decreased 0.1 percent in April.

PriceGrabber®, a part of Experian, has released the results of its Local Deals Survey, revealing that the daily deal industry is still an emerging sector that is growing in popularity, with 44 percent of respondents saying they use or search daily deal Websites. However, of these respondents, 52 percent expressed feeling overwhelmed by the number of bargain-boasting emails they receive on a daily basis. The survey includes responses from 2,088 U.S. online consumers and was conducted from May 20 to 25, 2011.

Metro areas will be slow to regain their pre-recession employment levels – many of them into the next decade – according to forecasts in a report released by the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) at its annual meeting where the nation's mayors are discussing the tough economic challenges facing cities and their suburbs.

Hourly labour costs in the euro area (EA17) rose by 2.6% in the year up to the first quarter of 2011, compared with 1.5% for the previous quarter. In the EU27, the annual rise was 2.7% up to the first quarter of 2011, compared with 1.8% for the previous quarter.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for the U.S. increased 0.8 percent in May to 114.7 (2004 = 100), following a 0.4 percent decline in April, and a 0.7 percent increase in March. The largest contributions came from the interest rate spread, consumer expectations, and housing permits.

Regional and state unemployment rates were little changed in May. Twenty-four states recorded unemployment rate decreases, 13 states and the District of Columbia registered rate increases, and 13 states had no rate change, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Forty-three states and the District of Columbia posted unemployment rate decreases from a year earlier, four states reported increases, and three states had no change. The national jobless rate was essentially unchanged at 9.1 percent, but was 0.5 percentage point lower than a year earlier.

The annual growth rate of the outstanding amount of debt securities issued by euro area residents was 3.2% in April 2011, compared with 3.4% in March. For the outstanding amount of quoted shares issued by euro area residents, the annual growth rate was 1.4% in April 2011, compared with 1.2% in March.