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Worldwide mobile payment users will surpass 141.1 million in 2011, a 38.2 percent increase from 2010, when mobile payment users reached 102.1 million, according to Gartner, Inc. Worldwide mobile payment volume is forecast to total $86.1 billion, up 75.9 percent from 2010 volume of $48.9 billion.

In May 2011, the amount outstanding of shares/units issued by euro area investment funds other than money market funds was EUR 44 billion higher than in April 2011. This increase was due almost equally to increases in share/unit prices and to net issues of shares/units.

In May 2011 the seasonally adjusted current account of the euro area recorded a deficit of EUR 5.2 billion. In the financial account, combined direct and portfolio investment recorded net inflows of EUR 53 billion (non-seasonally adjusted). At the end of the first quarter of 2011 the international investment position of the euro area recorded net liabilities of EUR 1.2 trillion vis-à-vis the rest of the world(approximately 13% of euro area GDP). This represented an increase of EUR 36 billion in comparison with the revised data for the end of the fourth quarter of 2010.

The use of smart phones and tablet PCs by U.S. small and medium businesses (SMBs, with fewer than 1000 employees) is experiencing tremendous growth. New York-based AMI-Partners cited nearly 3.5 million U.S. SMBs are currently using smart phones and 700,000 using tablet PCs. In the next 12 months, AMI estimates that the number of SMBs owning these devices will increase by 40% and 85%, respectively.

A study released today by Bankrate.com (NYSE: RATE) found that only 58% of Americans track their spending against a monthly budget. Bankrate's overall Financial Security Index fell from 97.8 in June to 95.6 in July, the lowest reading since April. Confidence in job security and savings dropped to 2011 lows.

More than two-thirds of UK workers believe access to social networking sites should be banned from the workplace, according to new research from leading UK job site, reed.co.uk.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Germany increased 0.5 percent and The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) increased 0.1 percent in May.

Mortgage rates declined for the second week in a row, with the benchmark conforming 30-year fixed mortgage rate now 4.68 percent, according to Bankrate.com's weekly national survey. The average 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.39 discount and origination points.

The economy is struggling to regain the momentum lost since the beginning of 2011 as higher gasoline prices and supply-chain disruptions due to the Japan tragedy during the first half of the year combined to restrain growth, according to the July 2011 Economic Outlook released today by Fannie Mae's (OTC Bulletin Board: FNMA) Economics & Mortgage Market Analysis Group. Economic growth in the second quarter is estimated to have moved at the same anemic 1.9 percent pace seen during the first quarter. However, motor vehicle production is on track for a rebound and we've seen a decline in oil prices, which should encourage growth of about 3 percent for the current quarter before slowing modestly in the final quarter. Full-year growth is projected to slow to 2.4 percent, down from 2.8 percent in 2010.

Regional and state unemployment rates were little changed in June. Twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia registered unemployment rate increases, 8 states recorded rate decreases, and 14 states had no rate change, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Thirty-nine states posted unemployment rate decreases from a year earlier, eight states and the District of Columbia reported increases, and three states had no change. The national jobless rate was little changed at 9.2 percent, but was 0.3 percentage point lower than a year earlier.