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The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index®, which had increased in January, improved further in February. The Index now stands at 70.4 (1985=100), up from 64.8 in January. The Present Situation Index improved to 33.4 from 31.1. The Expectations Index increased to 95.1 from 87.3 last month.

For the first time in years, the apartment rental market is beginning to experience signs of recovery as the U.S. economy slowly begins to strengthen. Reuters reported the rental vacancy rate fell to 9.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010 from 10.3 percent in the July-September period—the lowest since the second quarter of 2007. Witten Advisors predicts rents will increase 4.5 percent in 2011 as operators become aggressive in raising rents with little fear of losing customers to other housing options. In response to this news, Apartments.com conducted a national survey to more than 1,800 of its January website visitors to find out about their 2011 moving plans, including reasons they are moving, when they plan to move and which tools they value most during their apartment search.

In survey results released today, research by Advisors Trusted Advisor describes how advisors and wealth managers are most successfully winning new business and what marketing tactics are most used to build awareness.

Consumers in the United States are more likely to buy a smartphone in 2011 than PCs, mobile phones, e-readers, media tablets and gaming products, according to a recent survey by Gartner, Inc. U.S. smartphone sales are expected to grow from 67 million units in 2010 to 95 million units in 2011. By comparison, mobile PC shipments are forecast to total 50.9 million in the United States. in 2011, up from 45.6 million from 2010.

Keynote Competitive Research, the industry analysis group of Keynote Systems (NASDAQ:KEYN), today announced the top performers on its ‘Romance Performance Index’ created especially for Valentine’s Day 2011. Other than a few performance hiccups, the results showed that most of the mobile and connected websites dealing in gifts, greeting cards, chocolates, flowers, wine, online dating and restaurant reservations did remarkably well considering the onslaught of visitor traffic typically experienced in the lead-up to Valentine’s Day.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its most recent Consumer Price Index (CPI) report on Thursday, reflecting a slight month-to-month rise of 0.2 percent in the price of motor vehicle insurance policies between December and January. AutoInsurance.com recommends that consumers shop around and take full advantage of available discounts in order to keep personal costs low.

Consumer confidence last week held near a two-month low, and more Americans turned pessimistic on the outlook for the economy as gasoline prices rose.

A year ago, after President Obama's first year in office, Americans seemed hopeful as majorities agreed the President was trying to bring about needed change (60%), had fresh ideas (56%), and made other countries feel better about the United States (57%). Yet, he also was widely criticized at that time for not living up to his promises (60%), not accomplishing much (61%), and for spending too much money (61%).

New findings from the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) show there was a higher percentage of people age 55 and older (40.2 percent) in the work force in 2010 -- the highest level in 35 years -- even after the 2008-2009 recession.

Data released today by Standard & Poor's for the S&P Healthcare Economic Composite Index indicates that the average per capita cost of healthcare services covered by commercial insurance and Medicare programs rose 6.06% over the 12-months ending December 2010. This is the seventh consecutive month where we have seen a deceleration in the annual rate of change for the S&P Healthcare Economic Composite Index. The annual rate of change is down 2.68 percentage points from its May 2010 peak reading.