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Despite concerns surrounding the current global recession, a new survey among IT professionals reveals that the majority of small businesses are cautiously optimistic and making fewer cut-backs in technology investments compared to those within mid-market and enterprise-sized companies.

More than two-thirds of Americans do not expect the newly-approved $787 billion economic stimulus package will improve their personal finances, according to the First Command Financial Behaviors Index.

comScore, Inc. released its December rankings of the largest and fastest-growing Internet properties and site categories in the Latin American region based on data from the comScore World Metrix audience measurement service.

While many states have taken steps in recent years to strengthen the rights of renters, only a handful of states have updated their home foreclosure laws, which are now "tilted against homeowners" and acting as a little-understood factor that is helping to accelerate the U.S. home foreclosure crisis, according to a major new report by the National Consumer Law Center. Based on a survey of existing state laws, the NCLC report identifies some of the most antiquated state law provisions, including "fast track" foreclosures without any court oversight in 30 states and no requirement of direct notification to homeowners in 33 states upon the initiation of foreclosure proceedings.

MerchantCircle released survey results compiled from nearly 11,000 local business owners in all 50 states. More than 73% of business owners say they have seen a "moderate" to "severe" decline in sales and revenue from the same point last year. Only 3% of business owners believe the stimulus bill proposed by the Obama administration does enough for small business owners, while 65% say the plan does not. 31% say they "don't know enough about [the plan]" to have an opinion.

A new survey by The Harris Poll® of American attitudes to Wall Street finds a huge 83% majority of adults thinks that bonuses paid by financial institutions that lost money in 2008 should be returned and be paid to shareholders. An even larger majority, 87% believe that "recent events have shown that Wall Street should be subject to tougher regulation."

If anyone has any doubt that mobile banking is growing, all they have to do is look at US mobile numbers from ABI Research showing that the number of users jumped from 400,000 in 2007 to 3.1 million last year.

As the recession continues, companies are looking ahead and expecting to experience a long period of economic hardship. A new update to an ongoing series of surveys conducted by Watson Wyatt, shows that most companies have already made most of their intended sweeping changes. However, many expect to make further cost-cutting changes this year, such as salary and hiring freezes, and reduced 401(k) matching contributions.

Infrastructure spending and business tax benefits contained in the $787 billion economic stimulus plan are most likely to kick start the economy, but not for several months, according to turnaround experts.

Fewer than one in three Americans expect they will ever be able to fully retire, according to a new study commissioned by Scottrade. This represents a decline from 39 percent in 2008 to 32 percent this year, an 18 percent decrease.