Menu

The European Union has formalised its support for the Copenhagen Accord on climate change and presented its commitments for emission reduction targets. In a joint letter with the Spanish Presidency of the Council, the European Commission has formally notified the EU's willingness to be associated with the Accord and submitted for information the EU's established greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets for 2020. These consist of a unilateral commitment to reduce the EU's overall emissions by 20% of 1990 levels and a conditional offer to increase this cut to 30% provided that other major emitters agree to take on their fair share of a global reduction effort. Under the Accord, notifications are to be submitted by 31 January 2010.

The average conforming 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell for the fourth consecutive week, settling at 5.13 percent according to Bankrate.com's weekly national survey. The average 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.49 discount and origination points.

Employers took 1,726 mass layoff actions in December that resulted in the separation of 153,127 workers, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Each action involved at least 50 persons from a single employer. The number of mass layoff events in December decreased by 87 from the prior month, and the number of associated initial claims decreased by 10,696. Both figures reached their lowest level since July 2008. In December, 433 mass layoff events were reported in the manufacturing sector, seasonally adjusted, resulting in 44,072 initial claims. Both figures decreased over the month to their lowest levels since November and August 2007, respectively.

Merchandise trade volumes of the Group of seven (G7) countries grew in third quarter of 2009 after stabilising in the second but still were significantly below the levels of 2008.

The Conference Board Leading Economic IndexTM (LEI) for the Euro Area increased 0.9 percent and The Conference Board Coincident Economic IndexTM (CEI) remained unchanged in December.

A significant majority of U.S. employers believe health care reform, if enacted, would lead to higher costs for both employer-sponsored benefit programs and health care services overall, according to initial results from an employer survey conducted by Towers Watson and the National Business Group on Health. A separate Towers Watson survey of U.S. employees found that a majority of workers think health reform will not only lead to higher costs, but decrease the quality of care and reduce the benefits available to them.

Fitch Ratings estimates that European governments will need to borrow EUR2,200bn (19% of GDP) from the capital market in 2010 in order to finance large deficits and roll-over existing debt. This figure represents a marginal increase on 2009, which Fitch estimates to have been close to EUR2,120bn (17% of GDP) - itself the largest borrowing requirement seen in decades.

Despite the global economic crisis, the commercial insurance industry remained stable throughout 2009, providing many U.S. businesses with opportunities to enhance their coverage or obtain moderate price reductions. A comprehensive report issued by Marsh, the world’s leading insurance broker and risk advisor, examines U.S. commercial insurance market trends and conditions.

Rapid growth has come to alternative energy. Wind power generation grew more than tenfold in the U.S. in the 2000s, while funding for solar startups soared past many information technology sectors. But in the 2010s, feed-in tariffs will decrease, and many renewable electricity sources will approach cost parity with fossil-fuel sources. As a result, manufacturers and investors will increasingly depend on production economics, not global politics, to achieve high returns on invested capital.

Trust in business and government in the United States has improved significantly, according to the 2010 Edelman Trust Barometer. Among informed publics, trust in U.S. business to do what is right jumped 18 points since last year to 54 percent. Trust in U.S. companies is trending up in 19 of the 20 countries surveyed, with the largest increases – 20 percentage points or more – recorded in Europe, reversing years of low trust in U.S. companies across the EU and Russia.