Menu

Of the leading aerospace and defense (A&D) companies surveyed, all executives agreed that the most important factor driving globalization in the A&D industry is the rapid growth of markets outside North America and Europe, according to the Aerospace and Defense Insights: Accelerating global growth report by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC). This report, which highlights feedback from leading CEOs and senior executives in the A&D sector, shows that these growing markets offer new customers, lower costs and access to talent - all of which are in short supply in developed markets. Many A&D companies are investing in new markets to pursue the customers and relationships that will help drive sales growth over the next two decades.

Anticipating substantial increases in global information technology spending outside the U.S., senior technology executives in the U.S. see stronger revenue and profit ahead for their industry in 2011, although they see a longer path to recovery for the overall U.S. economy, according to the results of a recent survey by KPMG LLP, the audit, tax, and advisory firm.

Slow growth, heavy discounting and more fickle shoppers in recession-weary developed markets mean retailers should be increasingly focused on international expansion, according to the 9th annual Global Retail Development Index study from management consulting firm A.T. Kearney.

A new Financial Times/Harris Poll finds that adults in the U.S. and the five largest European countries do not have much trust in their political leaders to deal effectively with the current fiscal crisis. Just under half of Germans (45%), two in five French adults (40%), just under two in five Americans (39%), Spaniards (38%) and Italians (37%) and one-third of Britons (34%) say they do not trust politicians in their country at all to effectively deal with the fiscal crisis. Between 23% and 37% say they trust the politicians in their country just a little.

Farm commodity prices have fallen from their record peaks of two years ago but are unlikely to drop back to their average levels of the past decade, according to the annual joint report from the OECD and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The rapid growth of emerging economies has led to a shift in economic power: forecasts based on analysis by late economist Angus Maddison suggest that the aggregate economic weight of developing and emerging economies is about to surpass that of the countries that currently make up the advanced world.

The unemployment rate for the OECD area was steady in April 2010 at 8.7%, unchanged from March. The general picture is of broad stability across OECD countries. The May 2010 rate for Canada was 8.1%, unchanged from April. But the May rate for the United States, at 9.7%, fell by 0.2 percentage points from April, reflecting the hiring of temporary workers for the 2010 US Census.

OECD composite leading indicators (CLIs) for April 2010 point to a slowing pace of expansion in most OECD countries. The CLI for the OECD area increased by 0.4 point in April 2010, slightly lower than the 0.5 point increase in March. April was the ninth consecutive month that the rate of increase has slowed.

Job growth will occur more quickly outside of the U.S. and Europe, according to the latest NYSE Euronext Annual CEO Report. The study finds that chief executives in the U.S. and Europe do not expect a full jobs recovery until 2014 or later, while their counterparts elsewhere expect a full jobs recovery by the end of 2012. Additionally, small business is viewed as a primary source of employment gains while opinions vary on the impact of governments on new job creation.

A survey released by Invest Barbados showed that the majority of people in Canada, the US and the UK believe that investments in low tax jurisdictions (international financial centres) are good for business, but bad for their local economies. The survey revealed broad misconceptions among major G20 nations about the beneficial role of international financial centres in the global economy.