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The Conference Board Leading Economic Index™ (LEI) for the U.K. increased 0.4 percent, and The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index™ (CEI) increased 0.1 percent in December.

The European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) recorded a total of 285 cases of restructuring in the European Union between 1 October and 31 December 2009, involving some 100,000 announced job losses and 20,000 announced job gains. Restructuring activity as captured by the ERM has continued to reflect more normal levels of activity in the recent quarter. Levels of restructuring job loss continue to decline from the peak levels of the fourth quarter of 2008 to the first quarter of 2009. So too did levels of job creation, which fell to their lowest level since the ERM started systematically recording such cases in 2004.

Global airline capacity for February 2010 shows positive growth compared to February 2009, reports OAG, the world's leading aviation data business with its monthly report on trends in the supply of airline flights and seats. This marks the sixth consecutive month in which overall airline capacity has shown growth, with 272.7 million available seats this month, an increase of 5% over February 2009. Global frequencies are also showing growth, with an increase of 4%, with a total of 2.2 million flights scheduled for February 2010. Global frequency and capacity in the low-cost sector are up by 11% compared to a year ago, with 40,704 more flights and 6.1 million more seats.

Insurers whose agents are highly satisfied tend to receive a considerably greater share of business from those agents, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2010 Insurance Agency Satisfaction Study - Personal Lines.

The annual growth rate of the outstanding amount of debt securities issued by euro area residents decreased from 9.7% in November 2009 to 8.1% in December. For the outstanding amount of quoted shares issued by euro area residents, the annual growth rate increased from 2.7% in November 2009 to 2.9% in December.

Hungary is facing one of the most severe recessions among OECD countries. High foreign currency indebtedness gave rise to a loss in market confidence, and unsuccessful market financing of the government deficit coupled with limited foreign exchange reserves led the authorities to request financial assistance from international organisations.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index™ (LEI) for Korea increased 2.1 percent and The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index™ (CEI) for Korea increased 0.5 percent in December.

A new Harris Interactive/HealthDay poll finds that reducing unemployment and creating new jobs are clearly considered the top immediate priorities for President Obama and Congress, but healthcare reform is still important. Half of U.S. adults say it will be a “bad thing” if there is no major reform of the healthcare system in the next two years.

According to an analysis by Deutsche Card Services, women played a predominant role in European online retailing. The "E-Retail-Report 2009" of the Deutsche Bank subsidiary shows that women initiated 61.35% of all transactions in European online shops. In the 2007 Report, men had made 56% of all purchases, women 44%. The latest Report also shows: online shopping is most popular outside large agglomerations and less so in large cities.

Please be advised that Gallup and Healthways, Inc. released the Gallup-Healthways Monthly U.S. Well-Being Report for January 2010. After falling steadily since mid-summer of 2009, the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being IndexTM (WBI) rose 1.1 percent in January 2010 to close the month at 66.8, tying the highest monthly score recorded in 2009 and representing a 2.2 percentage point increase year-over-year.