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The risks associated with using the Internet remain high, yet many consumers are still complacent about online security according to the latest survey from Consumer Reports. U.S. consumers lost almost $8.5 billion over the last two years to viruses, spyware, and phishing schemes according to projections from the magazine's annual State of the Net survey featured in the September issue. Additionally, Consumer Reports estimates that American consumers have replaced about 2.1 million computers over the past two years because of online threats.

The Conference Board's Employment Trends Index (ETI)™ continued a now year-long decline in July, suggesting even more softening to come in the labor market. The index fell in July to 112.1, down 0.9 percent from June's revised figure of 113.1, and down more than 7.5 percent from July 2007.

Sharply higher crude oil prices in the first half of 2008 and crumbling North American end-user demand have led to substantial weakness among downstream companies' second-quarter results. Significant year-on-year decreases in operating results were seen at bellwether Valero (second-quarter [2Q] net income [NI] of $734 million versus $2.25 billion in 2007, a 67% drop), Tesoro (2Q NI of $4 million versus $443 million in 2007, a 99% drop), Marathon (segment NI of $158 million versus $1.25 billion in 2007, an 87% drop), ExxonMobil (segment NI of $1.56 billion versus $3.39 billion in 2007, a 54% drop), and Chevron (a segment loss of $734 million versus $1.3 billion gain in 2007).

The U.S. warehouse market contracted considerably during the second quarter of 2008, posting a drop in absorption and a sizeable increase in vacancy, according to Colliers International, a leading global real estate services firm. This notable weakness suggests that the market for warehouse space will be further challenged in 2008, due to a slowing U.S. economy.

As the unemployment rate reached a four-year high, and after Congress failed this week to extend essential renewable-energy tax credits, the Blue Green Alliance said today that the U.S. is missing an enormous opportunity to create middle-class green jobs that will reinvigorate our economy, increase our energy independence and fight the global-climate crisis.

A major restructuring of global energy markets is underway, challenging all to think about energy in new ways, yet the United States is at risk of being left behind because the nation lacks a comprehensive global energy security roadmap, warned the former chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in a speech to the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco.

Jittery American workers were greeted with the news that unemployment in July reached a four-year high of 5.7 percent and that the U.S. economy shed 51,000 jobs last month on the heels of the loss of 98,000 jobs in May and June. For all of 2008, the U.S. economy has lost 463,000 jobs. Meanwhile in Congress, both houses spent the final days before their month-long summer vacation pushing for admission of hundreds of thousands of additional foreign workers.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement after the Department of Labor released its employment report for July showing a loss of 51,000 jobs, and an unemployment rate that climbed to 5.7 percent - the highest since March 2004.

The Spherion(R) Employee Confidence Index dropped 0.9 point to 45.2 in July, decreasing to a new low since tracking began in June 2004.

The unemployment rate rose to 5.7 percent, and nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend down in July (-51,000), the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported. Employment continued to fall in construction, manufacturing, and several service-providing industries, while health care and mining continued to add jobs. Average hourly earnings rose by 6 cents, or 0.3 percent, over the month.