comScore, Inc.released its monthly analysis of U.S. consumer activity at the top online properties for September 2008 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. The tumultuous financial markets and the upcoming presidential elections were the main drivers of Internet traffic for the month.
As the economy weakened during the third quarter, venture capitalists continued to rein in investments in U.S.-based companies, according to the Quarterly U.S. Venture Capital Report from Dow Jones VentureSource. The third quarter of 2008 saw $7.37 billion in venture capital invested into 583 deals, 7% less than the $7.94 billion put into 673 deals during the same period last year and the second consecutive quarter of year-over-year declines.
Median weekly earnings of the nation's 107.2 million full-time wage and salary workers were $720 in the third quarter of 2008, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported. This was 3.6 percent higher than a year earlier, compared with a gain of 5.3 percent in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers(CPI-U) over the same period.
In March 2008, Orleans County, La., had the largest over-the-year percentage increase in employment among the largest counties in the U.S., according to preliminary data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor.
In a consumer buying survey launched during the financial crisis' first record market drop, nine in ten consumers (91%) reported paying more attention to everyday spending using grocery coupons to help manage finances during this economic crisis.
According to The Nielsen Company, more than 9 million households are not ready for the upcoming transition to all-digital broadcasting and would be unable to receive any television programming at all if the transition occurred today. Another 12.6 million households have at least one television set that will no longer work when the digital transition occurs, meaning that nearly one in five U.S. households are either partially or completely unready for the transition.
A new Morpace survey shows that perception of banks varies depending on their size. However, all banks share the same key opportunity for improvement in customer satisfaction - that is, helping customers achieve their financial goals.
Fifty percent of American adults age 40-59 - The Baby Boomers - feel that the government is doing too much to solve Wall Street's problems, according to a new poll by TV Land.
Call it a "Green Christmas". A recent national survey commissioned by Plow & Hearth, one of the country’s leading retailers, found that half of Americans plan to purchase an environmentally friendly gift this holiday season.
