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NYSE Liffe, LLC, the new U.S. futures exchange of NYSE Euronext (NYX), the world’s leading and most liquid exchange group, today received approval from the Commodity and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) of its application to become a Designated Contract Market (DCM).

The Conference Board announced that the U.S. leading index decreased 0.7 percent, the coincident index increased 0.1 percent and the lagging index increased 0.4 percent in July.

The credit crisis continued to exact a toll on U.S. corporate credit quality in the second quarter of 2008. The par value of U.S. corporate bonds affected by downgrades totaled $115.4 billion quite a contrast to the second quarter of 2007 when downgrades affected a far smaller $23.8 billion in outstanding bonds. In fact, the total value of U.S. corporate bonds affected by downgrades over the past year, beginning with the second half of 2007 and including the first half of 2008, has now reached $423 billion more than the prior two years combined.

Mortgage rates retreated, with the average conforming 30-year fixed mortgage rate falling to 6.66 percent. According to Bankrate.com's weekly national survey of large lenders, the average 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.4 discount and origination points.

Small businesses - of which there are nearly twenty-five million in the United States - form the backbone of the American economy. As more and more consumers turn to the Internet to find products and services, small business owners are faced with the challenge of making their presence known in the online marketplace.

A revolution is set to occur in the world of European energy delivery. The ADDRESS European project, funded to the tune of EUR 9 million by the EU, aims to provide European citizens with the next evolution in energy delivery through the development of smart energy grids of the future. These grids will give consumers for the first time the ability to actively participate in energy delivery, choosing when they consume their energy as well as giving them the opportunity to supply energy into the energy grid.

The European Commission and the European Central Bank have welcomed a document published by the European Payments Council (EPC), the association of banks and banking associations which is setting up the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). Through this document, which takes the form of Questions & Answers, the EPC clarifies key aspects of compliance with the SEPA Cards Framework (SCF) for payment card schemes and banks, as well as the conditions for geographical coverage of card schemes within the SEPA. This should facilitate the transition from the existing fragmented and monopolistic national payments markets towards a competitive, SEPA-wide, payment cards market where economies of scale and increased competition can drive efficiency and innovation to the benefit of European consumers and companies.

The Government of Canada is providing organic farmers with the support they need to tap into new and locally-based markets. This Government continues to support the organic industry while they grow to meet increasing consumer demand for organic products.

The salary data contained in the Business & Legal Reports, Inc. annual BLR® Pay Budget Survey Report, show increases are holding steady for 2009 despite a weak economy and rise in costs.

From January 2005 through December 2007, 3.6 million workers were displaced from jobs they had held for at least 3 years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported. The number of displaced workers was about the same as the level (3.8 million) recorded in the previous survey that covered the period from January 2003 to December 2005.