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Fitch Ratings expects a gradual recovery to continue for the global chemicals industry as global chemicals markets stabilized in the first half of 2009 and continue to rebound from record lows. In Fitch's North American & EMEA chemicals outlook reports, the company says the recovery in demand for chemical products will remain fragile next year with significant regional disparities in the growth trends reflecting varying economic expansion forecasts. Asia (China and India) and, to a lesser extent, South America (Brazil) are expected to continue driving global demand while anemic economic recovery will constrain prospects in the Western European and North American markets.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index™ (LEI) for Mexico increased 0.4 percent and The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index™ (CEI) increased 0.1 percent in October.

The growing diversity of alternative payment methods suggests the stakeholders are scrambling to establish a lead in preferred payment form.

According to Fitch Ratings' 2010 outlook for the global oil & gas sector, the oil & gas industry is stable as the rally in crude oil prices from the lows experienced during the first quarter of 2009 continue to provide considerable support to industry activity levels and financial profiles. Credit profiles across the oil & gas sector are expected to be largely in-line with 2009 levels, with exceptions for the refining and drilling and service sectors. The key risk for upstream companies and integrateds relates to the potential for weaker oil prices during the year.

The unemployment rate for the OECD area was 8.8% in October 2009, 0.1 percentage point higher than the previous month and 2.3 percentage points higher than a year earlier.

Fitch Ratings says in a report that the outlook for central European (CE) electric utilities is stable for 2010. The agency believes that large utilities with a solid market position will remain fundamentally strong despite the negative effect of the economic downturn, which has mainly meant reduced demand for electricity and lower wholesale prices.

China is now one of the top two most attractive locations in the world in which to invest in renewable energy projects, according to Ernst & Young's latest global renewable energy country attractiveness indices.

New internationally comparable indicators on quality of care show progress in treating serious conditions such as cancer. However, despite increasing rates of chronic diseases such as asthma and diabetes, care for these conditions falls short of good practices in too many countries, resulting in deteriorating health and higher medical costs.

International mergers and acquisitions are forecast to decline by 56% in 2009 compared with 2008, the largest year-on-year decline since 1995 (see figure 1). This estimate is based on OECD analysis of data for international M&A activity up to 26 November 2009.

India needs to strengthen and liberalise its regulatory framework and invest more in infrastructure in order to attract increased foreign direct investment (FDI), according to a new OECD report.