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OECD composite leading indicators (CLIs) for March 2010 point to a slowdown in the pace of economic activity. In most OECD countries signs of slowing growth are tentative, but stronger signals have appeared in France and Italy, and some evidence of a potential halt in expansion is emerging in China and Brazil.

Fitch Ratings says in a new report that the global financial crisis has caused a further setback to euro adoption timetables in most EU member states in central and eastern Europe (CEE), owing to a marked widening of budget deficits and higher sovereign bond spreads. The exception is Estonia, which Fitch expects to join the euro area in January 2011.

North America recorded its best quarter of activity in the outsourcing market since the fourth quarter of 2008, and the global sourcing market continues to give signals of a recovering global economy, according to Everest, a global consulting and research firm. Transaction volumes for the first quarter of this year, valued at US$3.9 billion in annual contract value (ACV), maintained a steady, even pace for the third consecutive quarter.

Information technology (IT) companies in China and India are notably more bullish on prospects for business growth in the next six months than their counterparts in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, according to a new survey from CompTIA, the leading trade association for the global IT industry.

Consumer prices in the OECD area rose by 2.1% in the year to March 2010, up from 1.9% in February. This small increase in inflation rates mainly reflected higher energy prices, which increased by 11.3% in the year to March, compared with 8.4% in February.

Fitch Ratings says in a special report that prospects have improved for most emerging market (EM) banks in recent quarters as the global economic recovery gains momentum and many EMs are forecasted to return to solid growth in 2010. However, Fitch has significant asset quality concerns about banks in China in the medium term, following recent rapid loan expansion in that market, and many banking systems across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) are still working through asset quality problems and adapting to funding constraints which have emerged during the crisis.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Mexico remained unchanged and The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) increased 0.6 percent in February.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Australia declined 0.3 percent and The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) declined 0.2 percent in February.

Fixed broadband services are often eclipsed by the hype and media frenzy surrounding mobile broadband, yet fixed broadband subscriber adoption is still growing robustly. Fixed broadband subscribers totaled 430.7 million in 2009 according to ABI Research’s most recent broadband subscriber Market Data. That represents approximately a 13% increase over 2008.

Merchandise trade volumes continued to grow in the fourth quarter of 2009 in the G7 countries, albeit at a slower pace than in the third quarter. Recent monthly data on merchandise trade values confirm the continued recovery into early 2010. However, both volumes and values of trade remain below their pre-crisis levels of mid-2008.