Menu

Nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend up in November (94,000), and the unemployment rate held at 4.7 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported. Job growth continued in professional and technical services, health care, and food services. Employment continued to decline in manufacturing and also fell in several housing-related industries, including construction, credit intermediation, and real estate. Average hourly
earnings rose by 8 cents over the month.

Despite reports of a well-publicized and well-funded anti-ethanol misinformation campaign, an overwhelming majority of consumers still believe the U.S. is too dependent on foreign sources of oil.

The number of U.S. workers expressing confidence in the economy and in their personal employment situation continued its decline in November, according to a recent survey from Spherion Corporation of 3,014 working adults.

AT&T has announced that although the majority of small businesses secure its computer systems, one-fourth (24 percent) are unconcerned about computer and online data security, and one in 10 (10 percent) has taken no action to secure their data.

According to Robert F. Vickery, a Principal in DSG's Retirement Practice, "As we predicted in last year's study, variable annuities with
guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefits (GMWBs), particularly those with lifetime income options, have continued with their amazing growth and
innovation."

For a number of years no one paid much attention to Canadian B2C e-commerce. There simply wasn’t much of a market there.

Although the holiday season has arrived, U.S. consumers are not feeling very merry, according to the most recent results of the RBC CASH (Consumer Attitudes and Spending by Household) Index. The survey, which measured the attitudes of 1,009 Americans earlier this week, found that consumer sentiment remained low, but stable, following a significant drop in November. While Americans' expectations for future prospects and their confidence in jobs improved slightly, their evaluations about current conditions and investments continued to decline. As a result of these mixed sentiments, the RBC CASH Index for December 2007 stands at 65.9, compared to 64.0 in November.

Fitch Ratings has revised the Outlook on the Republic of Lithuania's Long-term foreign currency and local currency Issuer Default ratings (IDRs) to Negative from Stable. At the same time, the agency has affirmed Lithuania's Long-term foreign currency IDR at 'A', Long-term local currency IDR at 'A+', Short-term foreign currency IDR at 'F1' and Country Ceiling at 'AA'.

The open-end mutual fund, long the dominant investment product of choice by financial advisors, will suffer declines in its portion of the product mix by more than 10 percent by 2009, according to the Advisor Product Forecast™, a new study by Cogent Research. The Advisor Product Forecast is built upon a detailed channel-by-channel survey of advisors, providing data beginning with where advisors are currently directing assets under management and where they expect to be two years from now, along with a product map showing where they intend to allocate new money.

JupiterResearch has found that although high-speed wireless data networks are available to the majority of all cell phone users, few are migrating “desktop” activities to cell phones.