Menu

Mortgage rates were down for the third week in a row, with the average conforming 30-year fixed mortgage rate falling to 5.07 percent, according to Bankrate.com's weekly national survey. The average 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.42 discount and origination points.

The recent crises and the risk for the stability of the euro area have underlined vividly the interdependence and exposed the vulnerability of Member States, in particular inside the euro area. The European Union and Member States have taken coordinated and determined action: This included not only short-term measures to stabilise the financial sector, revitalise the economy or ensure the solvency of Greece and the stability of the Eurozone, but it also entailed the setting up of a medium- and long-term vision to put Europe on the path of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth ("Europe 2020"). Now the time has come also to draw far-reaching lessons concerning the way economic policies are dealt with. Therefore, the Commission proposes to reinforce decisively the economic governance in the European Union.

comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, released the 2010 addition of its annual State of Online Banking Report. The study, based on a survey of more than 2,500 U.S. Internet users and behavioral data from comScore’s 1 million person online consumer panel, found that bank and credit card institutions experienced a decline in customer satisfaction for the second consecutive year as the economic environment weighed down consumer sentiment. On the positive side, the study also found that 64 percent of Americans now utilize online bill pay, an increase of 19 percentage points versus the previous year.

GDP increased by 0.2% in both the euro area (EA16) and the EU27 during the first quarter of 2010, compared with the previous quarter, according to flash estimates published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. In the fourth quarter of 2009, growth rates were 0.0% and +0.1% respectively.

In March 2010 compared with February 2010, seasonally adjusted industrial production grew by 1.3% in the euro area (EA16) and by 1.2% in the EU27. In February production increased by 0.7% and 0.5% respectively.

Employers initiated 1,564 mass layoff events in the first quarter of 2010 that resulted in the separation of 221,150 workers from their jobs for at least 31 days, according to preliminary figures released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Both events and separations decreased by record amounts from the same period a year earlier, when layoffs and associated separated workers reached program highs (with data available back to 1995).

The Deloitte Consumer Spending Index rose for the second consecutive month in April and remains at its highest level in six years. The Index attempts to track consumer cash flow as an indicator of future consumer spending.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Korea increased 0.3 percent and The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) for Korea increased 0.2 percent in March.

There were 2.7 million job openings on the last business day of March 2010, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The job openings rate was unchanged over the month at 2.0 percent. The hires rate (3.3 percent) was little changed, and the separations rate (3.1 percent) was unchanged in March. This release includes estimates of the number and rate of job openings, hires, and separations for the total nonfarm sector by industry and geographic region.

The unemployment rate for the OECD area was broadly stable in March 2010 at 8.7%; a rise of 0.1 percentage point compared with February. The general picture is of broad stability across most OECD countries. April 2010 figures for Canada were 0.1 percentage point lower than in March and 0.2 percentage points higher in the United States.