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The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods rose 1.1 percent in December, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. This advance followed increases of 0.8 percent in November and 0.4 percent in October and marks the sixth straight rise in finished goods prices. At the earlier stages of processing, prices received by manufacturers of intermediate goods moved up 1.0 percent, and the crude goods index increased 4.0 percent. On an unadjusted basis, prices for finished goods advanced 4.0 percent in 2010 after climbing 4.3 percent in 2009.

Consumers report they are more optimistic, with sentiment numbers climbing to their highest level in more than two years, while Americans claims to be facing fewer financial difficulties than they did one year ago, according to the Consumer Reports Index for January.

The annual growth rate of the outstanding amount of debt securities issued by euro area residents increased from 3.2% in October 2010 to 4.3% in November. For the outstanding amount of quoted shares issued by euro area residents, the annual growth rate was 1.7% in November 2010, compared with 1.8% in October.

There were 3.2 million job openings on the last business day of November, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The job openings rate was essentially unchanged over the month at 2.4 percent. Both the hires rate and the separations rate were little changed at 3.2 percent each in November. 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.

From June 2009 to June 2010, employment declined in 192 of the 326 largest U.S. counties according to preliminary data, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Yolo, Calif., and Marion, Fla., posted the largest percentage decline, with a loss of 3.7 percent each over the year, compared with a national job decrease of 0.2 percent. Within Yolo, the largest employment decline occurred in trade, transportation, and utilities, which lost 843 jobs over the year (-4.4 percent). In Marion, financial activities had the largest over-the-year decrease in employment, shedding 1,495 jobs (-27.1 percent). Elkhart, Ind., experienced the largest over-the-year percentage increase in employment among the largest counties in the U.S. with a gain of 9.3 percent.

In November 2010 compared with October 2010, seasonally adjusted industrial production rose by 1.2% in the euro area (EA16) and by 1.4% in the EU27. In October production grew by 0.7% and 0.4% respectively.

Worldwide IT spending is forecast to total $3.6 trillion in 2011, a 5.1 percent increase from 2010, according to the latest outlook by Gartner, Inc. In 2010, worldwide IT spending totaled $3.4 trillion, up 5.4 percent from 2009 levels.

Real GDP in the OECD area grew by 0.6% in the third quarter of 2010, down from the 0.9% of the previous quarter. Capital formation contributed 0.2 percentage point to overall growth, down from the 0.5 percentage point recorded in the second quarter. Private consumption was the main contributor, adding 0.4 percentage point to overall growth; while stockbuilding contributed 0.3 percentage point. For the third consecutive quarter, net exports dragged down GDP growth (by 0.3 percentage point in the third quarter of 2010).

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Japan decreased 0.6 percent and The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) decreased 0.2 percent in November.

The Conference Board Measure of CEO Confidence™, which had declined in the third quarter, bounced back in the final quarter of 2010. The Measure now reads 62, up from 50 in the previous quarter (a reading of more than 50 points reflects more positive than negative responses).