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The Producer Price Index for finished goods rose 0.2 percent in July, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. This advance followed a 0.4-percent decrease in June and a 0.2-percent rise in May. At the earlier stages of processing, prices received by manufacturers of intermediate goods moved up 0.2 percent in July, and the crude goods index declined 1.2 percent. On an unadjusted basis, prices for finished goods moved up 7.2 percent for the 12 months ended July 2011.

Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) reports that its Construction Backlog Indicator (CBI) increased 10 percent in the second quarter of 2011 to an average of 8.1 months, up from 7.3 months the previous quarter. The CBI is 12 percent higher than one year ago. CBI is a forward-looking indicator that measures the amount of construction work under contract to be completed in the future.

2ergo, an international provider of mobile strategy and mobile technology solutions, performed a study of the top retailers in the United States to understand how many are optimizing their reach on mobile phones through mobile websites and smartphone applications. The research found that 27% of the leading U.S. retailers do not have a mobile presence and are therefore missing out on key opportunities to acquire customers, increase engagement and generate revenue.

U.S. import prices increased 0.3 percent in July, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported, after declining 0.6 percent the previous month. Rising prices for both fuel and nonfuel imports contributed to the overall increase. In contrast, U.S. export prices fell 0.4 percent in July, the first decrease since the index declined 0.2 percent in July 2010.

Bolstered by a rise in home prices and a slight improvement in real wages, the Deloitte Consumer Spending Index rose in July for the first time since January. The Index tracks consumer cash flow as an indicator of future consumer spending.

Turbulent financial markets pushed mortgage rates lower for a second consecutive week, with the benchmark conforming 30-year fixed mortgage rate now 4.46 percent, according to Bankrate.com's weekly national survey. The average 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.36 discount and origination points. The record low of 4.42 percent was set in October and November of 2010.

As the U.S. keeps a close eye on the stock market, CareerBuilder's survey shows the financial situation for some households is improving. Forty-two percent of workers say they usually or always live paycheck to paycheck, an improvement from 43 percent in 2010 and in line with levels seen back in 2007. The number of workers who have missed a bill payment has decreased year-over-year; one-in-five (20 percent) say they have missed payments on bills in the last year, slightly improved from 22 percent at this time last year. This is according to a new nationwide survey of more than 5,200 workers by CareerBuilder that was conducted from May 18 to June 3, 2011.

comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the U.S. search marketplace. Google Sites led the explicit core search market in July with 65.1 percent of search queries conducted.

Employers in the private nonfarm sector initiated 1,624 mass layoff events in the second quarter of 2011 that resulted in the separation of 265,147 workers from their jobs for at least 31 days, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Total extended mass layoff events decreased over the year from 2,008 to 1,624, and associated worker separations fell from 381,622 to 265,147. Both events and separations have decreased over the year for seven consecutive quarters.

There were 3.1 million job openings on the last business day of June, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The hires rate (3.1 percent) and separations rate (3.1 percent) were again little changed over the month. This release includes estimates of the number and rate of job openings, hires, and separations for the total nonfarm sector by industry and by geographic region.