Fitch Ratings says today that the outlook for the European auto industry remains stable in 2007 but sees risks to this stability over the coming year. It expects the business environment to be extremely challenging for car manufacturers in 2007 and is concerned that this could jeopardise the positive results stemming from various measures taken by manufacturers recently.
Visa USA, the world’s leading payment brand and largest payment system, today announced the most significant milestones for the 2006 holiday shopping season following a slight shift in consumers’ spending habits this past holiday season.
When the history of Internet advertising is written, recruitment sites will undoubtedly dominate the first chapter. In 12 years, these sites have grown from a few big job boards to hundreds of niche competitors. Online recruitment now accounts for 25 percent of Internet advertising revenue.
Fitch Ratings says that EU energy security may be negatively affected by a new dispute between Russia and Belarus, this time over crude oil transportation. Belarus's state oil company Belneftekhim has notified Russia's crude oil pipeline monopoly Transneft that a transit duty of USD45 per metric tonne will be imposed on Russian oil transiting the country from 1 January 2007.
Topping the list of New Year's resolutions for one-in-five workers (20 percent) is a new job, according to CareerBuilder.com's latest survey. The study also shows that this may be the ideal time to look for new opportunities as a shrinking labor pool has employers struggling to find qualified labor and implementing more competitive recruitment efforts. Nearly half of employers plan to increase salaries on initial offers to new employees.
Mortgage rates moved slightly higher on a week highlighted by better-than-anticipated home sales figures. The average 30-year fixed rate mortgage is now 6.24 percent, the highest since Nov. 15. According to Bankrate.com's weekly national survey of large lenders, the 30-year fixed rate mortgages had an average of 0.27 discount and origination points.
