US investors seem desperate in comparison to pile into shares: the battered banks and financial stocks had their biggest rebound in 17 years and yet no one wanted to own them the day before. All this on a better than expected poor result from Well Fargo, and then a better than expected poor result from JP Morgan? Don't think so.
Internet coupons are of increasing interest to consumers, according to a recent analysis by consumer and media measurement firm Scarborough Research. Eleven percent of households currently obtain coupons via the Internet, and this has increased 83 percent since 2005.
Telecom providers Verizon and AT&T are rolling out IPTV services in the US. eMarketer forecasts that there will be 12.7 million IPTV subscribers in the US by 2012, up from 3.3 million in 2008.
Real average weekly earnings fell by 0.9 percent from May to June after seasonal adjustment, according to preliminary data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. A 0.3 percent increase in average hourly earnings partially offset a 1.2 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). Average weekly hours were unchanged.
Americans are cutting their spending and savings habits, but they are not yet resorting to additional debt to get through tough financial times. The new COUNTRY Financial survey shows most people are stopping short of tapping into credit and existing savings to make ends meet, despite the fact that nearly three in four Americans (73 percent) think their financial security will not improve this year.
The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods increased 1.8 percent in June, seasonally adjusted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. This increase followed advances of 1.4 percent in May and 0.2 percent in April. At the earlier stages of processing, prices received by producers of intermediate goods rose 2.1 percent in June after moving up 2.9 percent in the prior month, and the crude goods index increased 3.7 percent following a 6.7-percent gain in May.
The taxes Americans pay as consumers - in retail stores, at the gas pump or for cigarettes - are trending higher, according to CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business and a leading provider of tax, accounting and audit information, software and services.
Oil grabbed back all the losses of the week and hit a new high of $US147.27 in a dramatic day's trading on Friday. Friday's turmoil in sharemarkets in the US and in late trading in Europe over the fate of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage groups was matched in commodities markets as oil jumped by around $US3.50 after Thursday's $US5.50-plus a barrel rise.
The Deloitte Research Leading Index of Consumer Spending fell in July, continuing the decline the Index has experienced since October 2007. The Index attempts to track consumer cash flow as an indicator of future consumer spending.
