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Data through August 2007, released by Standard & Poor's for its S&P/Case-Shiller(R) Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, show further declines in the prices of existing single family homes across the United States, marking the 8th consecutive month of negative annual returns and the 21st consecutive month of decelerating returns.

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which has been declining since August, fell further in October. The Index now stands at 95.6 (1985=100), down from 99.5 in September. The Present Situation Index decreased to 118.8 from 121.2 in September. The Expectations Index declined to 80.1 from 85.0.

About 38 million viewers—more than three-quarters of the total worldwide audience in the middle of 2007—subscribed to mobile TV in Japan and South Korea, according to Berg Insight.

Preliminary results of a new survey by Deloitte & Touche LLP show that approximately 20 percent of CFOs and senior finance professionals (representing approximately 300 U.S. companies) would consider adopting International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), if given a choice by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Approximately two-thirds of those companies would consider adopting IFRS within the next three years.

In a slow week for data, weather (fires in the west, drought in the Southeast), higher oil prices, and lower home sales dominated the business news. A barrel of crude oil sold for over $90 this past week, with a chance that $100 might soon become reality. Home sales were lower but home prices may have started to stabilize. That is less of a negative story than if sales and prices continued to free fall.

Energy demand in Asia is expected to grow significantly on the back of substantial economic growth. The Indian energy industry has been riding a crest following the country’s economic growth, expanding population and per capita expenditures, urbanization, development of the industrial sector, government rural electrification programs, and industrial investments.

Shanghai and Bangalore are well-known international development hotspots, but expert panelists at the CoreNet Global Summit, meeting now in Atlanta, identified the up-and-coming cities that are expected to be the economic hubs of the future.

The Bloomberg Eurozone Retail Purchasing Managers' Index, an indicator based on a mid-month survey of economic conditions in the euro area retail sector and providing data one month ahead of government issued figures, signaled a drop in euro area retail sales in the first month of the fourth quarter. The PMI fell below the 50.0 no-change mark that divides expansion from contraction and, at 47.9 in October, indicated a moderate month-on-month decline in sales. Anecdotal evidence from survey panelists hinted that recent market instability and signs of a general economic slowdown had dented consumer confidence and kept some customers away from the high street.

The emergence of drought in Georgia, dwindling Great Lakes levels, and the fierce competition for water in the American West are part of a complex, urgent water crisis unfolding across the globe.

When Microsoft Corp. paid $240 million for a 1.6% stake in Facebook last week, it acquired the rights to sell Facebook advertising around the world. With 34.5 billion page views in September, according to comScore Media Metrix, Facebook is now the fourth most highly trafficked Web property worldwide.