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Median weekly earnings of the nation's 100.6 million full-time wage and salary workers were $753 in the second quarter of 2011 (not seasonally adjusted), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This was 1.8 percent higher than a year earlier, compared with a gain of 3.4 percent in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) over the same period.

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

PriceGrabber®, a part of Experian, just released additional results of its Back-to-School Shopping Forecast survey, revealing that 48 percent of shoppers plan to spend $250 or more on back-to-school purchases, and 25 percent will spend $500 or more. This is a modest decrease from back-to-school budgets in 2010, when 56 percent of consumers indicated that they would spend $250 or more and 31 percent planned to spend $500 or more. Conducted between May 12 and 19, 2011, the survey includes responses from 2,612 U.S. online consumers.

Confidence about current and future prospects for the information technology (IT) industry was overwhelmed by anxiety over the U.S. economy in the latest CompTIA IT Industry Business Confidence Index, the quarterly business barometer published by the non-profit trade association for the IT industry.

PlayFirst® Inc., a leading mobile game publisher, today announced the results of the Magid Media Futures: Mobile 2011 study revealing key insights into mobile computing trends. The study showed the dramatic shift to a ‘smartphone culture’ continues with nearly half of non-smartphone owners considering purchase of a smartphone to replace their cell/feature phone in the next 12 months. The study shows that smartphones continue to redefine traditional phone use with playing games, social networking and accessing the internet being three to five times more prevalent among smartphone owners than traditional cell phone owners.

Despite a sluggish economy, more Americans say they are confident their personal finances will improve during the next 12 months. This trend is translating into more people saving for retirement, according to new research from The Hartford.

Trade has been a key tool for driving growth and poverty reduction in Asia and should be expanded and improved so the benefits are shared by all economies in the region, Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Haruhiko Kuroda said today.

I. The Sales Prices of Newly Constructed Residential Buildings (excluding affordable housing)

The Pacific’s resource-rich economies of Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Timor-Leste will continue to expand strongly this year as commodity prices remain firm but growth in the rest of the region is set to remain subdued, says the new issue of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB’s) Pacific Economic Monitor.

In the construction sector, seasonally adjusted production fell by 1.1% in the euro area (EA17) and by 0.9% in the EU27 in May 2011, compared with the previous month. In April, production increased by 1.2% in the euro area, but decreased by 0.5% in the EU27.