In June 2008 the working day and seasonally adjusted current account of the euro area recorded a deficit of EUR 8.2 billion. In the financial account, combined direct and portfolio investment showed net inflows of EUR 32 billion.
The average real wage increase for European workers fell from 2.7% in 2006 to 2.3% in 2007, according to new data published by Eurofound’s European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO).
Small and medium businesses in Australia are on track to spend over US$1.8 billion on beefing up their Internet-related technologies, up some 5% from 2007. By 2009, it is estimated that SMB spending will go up marginally to US$1.9 billion on Internet-enabling technologies, according to a study by New York-based Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc.
Luxury home prices remained flat in San Francisco in the second quarter of 2008 compared to a year ago, but Los Angeles and San Diego continued to decline, according to the First Republic Prestige Home Index(TM) by First Republic Bank.
The Norwegian economy has been flourishing of late, enjoying substantial real income growth with low inflation and very low unemployment. Benefiting from rising world energy prices and favourable supply shocks in the wake of globalisation, this good performance also reflects fiscal restraint, broadly successful monetary policy and the economy’s capacity to attract foreign labour. Macroeconomic policy is nevertheless facing a number of difficult challenges, both in the short and medium terms.
The great credit crunch monster has struck again on two continents: pushing those desperate twins, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to the edge for the second time in six weeks in the US, and finally crunching financial engineer, Babcock and Brown in Australia, sending chairman, Jim Babcock into early retirement and CEO, Phil Green to the backbench.
Will Japan's second quarter slowdown prove to be a one quarter wonder? After a sharp, 8% recovery in exports in July, from June's slump (the first in five years), anything is possible as exports are a good indicator for overall performance.
Video game spending passed that for movies several years ago in the US, and the trend continues. In 2007, US domestic box office spending for movies reached $9.6 billion, according to the Motion Picture Association of America's "Theatrical Market Statistics" report.