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Xinhua Finance eziData China Consumer Confidence Index (CCCI) was updated today, with the survey results showing that China Consumer Confidence Index rebounded 0.9 point to 92.9 in August after a 3.1-point plunge in July. Current conditions fell further by a slight 0.8 point to 90.1, while future expectations rose by 1.8 points to 94.4, and concerns on future general price rises eased.

The U.S. Census Bureau released a report that estimates that 45.7 million Americans were uninsured in 2007 compared to 47 million in 2006. While the report shows a slight drop in the number of uninsured, it underscores the urgent need to expand access to health coverage, according to Consumers Union, nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports.

Europe's venture capital industry recorded another dismal showing in the second quarter of 2008 with just 167 deals completed - the lowest quarterly total in at least nine years - and 858 million euro invested, a 35% drop from the 1.33 billion euro invested in 286 deals over the same period last year, according to Dow Jones VentureSource which released its Quarterly European Venture Capital Report. However, early stage rounds accounted for 44% of all deals done in Europe during the first half of the year, indicating that region may be nearing the bottom of its decline as more entrepreneurial companies are starting to enter the venture capital lifecycle.

The consumer climate for August was depressed further by the very subdued economic outlook. Even significantly lower crude oil prices did nothing to brighten the consumer mood. As a result, the indicator reflecting propensity to buy has continued to decline. Solely income expectations recovered after the sharp downturn in July.

Driven by the still rising number of broadband subscribers, the desire to share bandwidth, residential gateway use by telecom broadband providers, and increases in Asia/Pacific, the worldwide installed base of home networks is expected to break the 200 million mark by the end of 2008.

Ever since Nokia preloaded the game "Snake" inside a mobile handset back in 1998, mobile carriers and game publishers have expected the mobile gaming market to explode. The inherent attraction of killing 5 or 10 minutes playing a game on a mobile phone seemed obvious. And research studies indicate that consumers enjoy games on their phones and play often.

Wainhouse Research has found in its latest WebMetrics Survey that energy and gas prices are greatly impacting how business is being conducted, leading to expanded use of existing and addition of new collaboration technologies.

WeatherBill released a new study ranking the weather sensitivity of sixty-eight countries around the world. The study finds that Brazil is the world's most weather sensitive country and Pakistan the least.

Fitch Ratings says in a special report that the Baltic states face a challenging and uncertain 12 months as they undergo a rapid macroeconomic adjustment in a difficult global economic and financial environment. All three countries have Negative Outlooks on their Long-term foreign currency Issuer Default ratings (IDR) of 'A' for Estonia, 'BBB+' for Latvia and 'A' for Lithuania. The agency expects the Outlooks and ratings to be driven by the nature and cost of the adjustment underway in the Baltic economies.

While many workers are having a tough time finding suitable employment in today's uncertain economy, companies also face challenges finding highly skilled people. According to the fourth annual Employment Dynamics and Growth Expectations (EDGE) Report by Robert Half International and CareerBuilder.com, employees rated the level of challenge in finding a job at 3.56 on a one-to-five sliding scale; similarly, employers rated the level of challenge in finding qualified candidates at 3.47.