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EcoSecurities, a leading company in the business of sourcing, developing, and trading carbon credits from greenhouse gas emission reduction projects, has partnered with Baker & McKenzie LLP, a leading climate change law firm, and ClimateBiz, the resource for climate management, to launch the second year of its Carbon Management and Offsetting Trends Survey Report 2009.

In a trend that is likely to continue, nearly half of U.S. companies are automatically enrolling workers into 401(k) plans to encourage them to save for retirement, according to a survey by Watson Wyatt, a leading global consulting firm. The survey also found that the number of companies that use target-date or lifecycle funds as their default investment option has increased sharply in the last few years.

Insurance executives see their companies performing above general market expectations in 2010, but their outlook on the industry's ability to generate underwriting profit in the next one to three years remains restrained, according to an annual survey conducted by KPMG, the audit, tax and advisory firm.

The European Commission has adopted an important package of draft legislation to significantly strengthen the supervision of the financial sector in Europe. The aim of these enhanced cooperative arrangements is to sustainably reinforce financial stability throughout the EU; to ensure that the same basic technical rules are applied and enforced consistently; to identify risks in the system at an early stage; and to be able to act together far more effectively in emergency situations and in resolving disagreements among supervisors.

While economists are saying the economic tide is turning, people are still not willing to open their wallets and spend money. Two-thirds of Americans (67%) say they will decrease spending on eating out at restaurants and reduce spending on entertainment (67%), almost the same number who said so in May (66% and 64% respectively).

According to ForeclosureWarehouse.com, the Making Home Affordable Program created by the Obama Administration as a way to help struggling homeowners save their homes from foreclosure has had mixed results. After two years of declining prices and increasing foreclosure rates, the program may have helped reduce the numbers but it has failed large numbers of homeowners who were eligible for the program. Wells Fargo and Bank of America had enrolled only 6% and 4%, respectively, of their eligible borrowers.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index™ (LEI) for Germany increased 1.1 percent and The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index™ (CEI) remained unchanged in July.

In July 2009 compared with June 2009, the euro area (EA16) industrial new orders index rose by 2.6%. In June the index increased by 4.0%. In the EU27 new orders rose by 1.6% in July 2009, after falling by 0.6% in June. Excluding ships, railway & aerospace equipment, for which changes tend to be more volatile, industrial new orders grew by 3.1% in the euro area and by 3.4% in the EU27.

In these challenging economic times, Americans have made numerous adjustments to shore up their family finances. Savings rates are on the rise, debt is being consolidated and slowly paid down, and people are spending and investing their money more conservatively. It may be time to add another trend to the list.

In a year marked by exceptional economic turbulence, the 2008 EU budget continued to provide stable funding without increasing the financial burden on Member States. The 2008 financial report presented by the Commission today shows how a record 40% of the 2008 budget's €116.5 billion was invested in measures linked directly to jobs, growth and competitiveness like the €6 billion committed for new research projects (€500m more than in 2007). Farm payments continued to fall taking 37% of funds, marginally less than 2007. In terms of EU GNI the 2008 budget was steady, rising only slightly to 0.94% (0.93% of EU GNI in 2007).