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Real GDP in the OECD area grew by 0.5% in the fourth quarter of 2010. Net exports and private consumption were the main contributors partly offset by an unwinding of inventories. This reverses the pattern seen in earlier quarters where inventory-rebuilding had contributed positively to GDP growth and net exports had contributed negatively.

American voters want elected officials to take bold steps to decrease the federal budget deficit and debt, and they won’t accept any excuses for failing to do so, according to a survey released today by FreedomWorks. Likely voters overwhelmingly support balancing the budget within 10 years and taking immediate action to address the impending entitlement crisis while opposing plans to raise the nation’s debt ceiling.

The second comeback of the electric vehicle (EV) in little more than a decade has a much greater likelihood of success, and many in the industry believe that it will have a transformative effect on driving habits as well as the automotive and electric power industries. To prepare for the arrival of EVs in neighborhoods across the country, utilities in the United States will need to design and implement a complex network of information technology (IT) systems to support data analytics, smart charging management, and customer information management. However, according to a recent report from Pike Research, many utilities could be unprepared to deal with the impact of EVs on the electrical grid, due to a lack of standards for sharing information between utilities and external systems.

Small and medium businesses (SMBs, companies with less than 1000 employees), across Asia-Pacific, excluding Japan (APAC), will spend US$16 billion on non-desktop PCs in 2011, much higher than spending on desktop PCs. Non-desktop PCs include laptops, netbooks and tablets. While tablets have attracted much media attention of late, the bulk of APAC SMB spending on non-desktop PCs is on laptops and netbooks.

CoreLogic, a leading provider of information, analytics and business services, today released its February Home Price Index (HPI) which shows that home prices in the U.S. declined for the seventh month in a row. According to the CoreLogic HPI, national home prices, including distressed sales, declined by 6.7 percent in February 2011 compared to February 2010 after declining by 5.5 percent in January 2011 compared to January 2010. Excluding distressed sales, year-over-year prices declined by 0.1 percent in February 2011 compared to February 2010 and by 1.4 percent in January 2011 compared to January 2010. Distressed sales include short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Korea increased 0.1 percent while The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index®(CEI) declined 0.3 percent in February.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for the U.K. increased 0.6 percent in February, after increasing 0.4 percent in January and increasing 0.6 percent in December. Five of the seven components made positive contributions to the index in December. The index now stands at 103.5 (2004=100).

Consumer confidence fell for the second straight month in March, as high gas prices correlated with discouraging consumer views about the direction of the U.S. economy, according to the Discover U.S. Spending Monitor.

Governments must reform the underlying structure of their economies to boost economic growth and create jobs, according to the OECD’s latest Going for Growth report.

India's economy will remain robust over the next two years although growth is expected to moderate in FY2011 as slower external demand and tighter fiscal and monetary policies weigh on expansion, and as high oil prices remain a threat.