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A new survey finds a record number of Americans have lost confidence in their ability to afford retirement.

Fidelity Investments® released results of its fourth Fidelity® Millionaire Outlook, an in-depth survey analyzing the investing attitudes and behaviors of more than 1,000 millionaire households , which reveals that while millionaires’ near-term confidence in the U.S. economy remains negative, their outlook is at the highest level since Fidelity began tracking their sentiment in 2006.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for the U.K. increased 0.4 percent in January, after increasing 0.6 percent in December and remaining unchanged in November. Five of the seven components made positive contributions to the index in December. The index now stands at 103.0 (2004=100).

U.S. business leaders are the most optimistic they have been since before the recession, according to Grant Thornton LLP’s most recent Business Optimism Index, a quarterly survey of U.S. business leaders.

In January 2011 compared with December 2010, seasonally adjusted industrial production grew by 0.3% in the euro area (EA17) and by 0.6% in the EU27. In December 2010 production rose by 0.3% and 0.2% respectively.

There were 2.8 million job openings on the last business day of January 2011, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The job openings rate (2.1 percent), hires rate (2.8 percent), and total separations rate (2.7 percent) were little changed over the month. This release includes estimates of the number and rate of job openings, hires, and separations for the total nonfarm sector by industry and by geographic region. This release also includes annual estimates for hires and separations. The annual totals for hires and quits increased in 2010 while the annual total for layoffs and discharges decreased.

comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the U.S. search marketplace. Google Sites led the explicit core search market in February with 65.4 percent of searches conducted.

Composite leading indicators (CLIs) for January 2011, designed to anticipate turning points in economic activity relative to trend, continue pointing to expansion in most OECD countries.

The majority of America’s potential homebuyers and sellers - 68 percent - believe that the real estate market and property values will recover in the next year or two, according to a survey released by Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services, Inc., a Prudential Financial, Inc. company. This exceeds the 47 percent of Americans who expected house prices would rise in a similar survey conducted in April 2010, underscoring a more bullish outlook for the real estate market today. In addition, 86 percent of Americans believe real estate is a good investment despite the market volatility of the past few years.

Consumer confidence fell last week to the lowest level in a month as surging gasoline prices soured Americans’ outlook about their finances and the economy.