Menu

GDP increased by 0.2% in both the euro area (EA17) and the EU27 during the second quarter of 2011, compared with the previous quarter, according to flash estimates published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. In the first quarter of 2011, growth rates were +0.8% in both zones.

Bolstered by a rise in home prices and a slight improvement in real wages, the Deloitte Consumer Spending Index rose in July for the first time since January. The Index tracks consumer cash flow as an indicator of future consumer spending.

In June 2011 compared with May 2011, seasonally adjusted industrial production fell by 0.7% in the euro area (EA17) and by 1.2% in the EU27. In May production rose by 0.2% in both zones.

The UK has long dominated Western Europe’s ecommerce landscape, accounting for well over half of annual sales in the EU-5. But France, Germany, Italy and Spain are increasingly vital markets in their own right.

Turbulent financial markets pushed mortgage rates lower for a second consecutive week, with the benchmark conforming 30-year fixed mortgage rate now 4.46 percent, according to Bankrate.com's weekly national survey. The average 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.36 discount and origination points. The record low of 4.42 percent was set in October and November of 2010.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index®(LEI) for Korea declined 0.4 percent and The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index®(CEI) for Korea increased 0.1 percent in June.

As the U.S. keeps a close eye on the stock market, CareerBuilder's survey shows the financial situation for some households is improving. Forty-two percent of workers say they usually or always live paycheck to paycheck, an improvement from 43 percent in 2010 and in line with levels seen back in 2007. The number of workers who have missed a bill payment has decreased year-over-year; one-in-five (20 percent) say they have missed payments on bills in the last year, slightly improved from 22 percent at this time last year. This is according to a new nationwide survey of more than 5,200 workers by CareerBuilder that was conducted from May 18 to June 3, 2011.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for the U.K. remained unchanged, and The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) increased 0.1 percent in June.

Advertising in China, still developing compared to countries like the US and Japan, is beginning to catch up to the demand of consumer-facing companies looking to expand their reach among the world’s largest population and its growing buying power. eMarketer estimates that by the end of this year, ad spending in the China will increase enough to make the country the second-largest advertising market in the world.

comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the U.S. search marketplace. Google Sites led the explicit core search market in July with 65.1 percent of search queries conducted.