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The OECD composite leading indicators for January 2009 continue to point to a weakening outlook for all the major seven economies, with the OECD total falling again to a new low and little clear indication of stabilization soon. The outlook has also continued to deteriorate in the major non-OECD member economies, particularly Brazil, which now joins China, India and Russia, in the strong slowdown group.

What better way is there for the auto industry to recapture the hearts and minds (and wallets) of disenfranchised consumers than to introduce non-polluting electric cars that never need a drop of oil?

Despite the current worldwide economic downturn, telecom capital expenditure (capex) will begin to grow again in 2010, fueled by increased government spending and by expansion of service offerings into new markets, according to the latest report from Light Reading Insider, a paid research service of TechWeb's Light Reading.

As the economic downturn continues, executives around the globe are scrutinizing business strategies and looking for ways to cut costs and reduce overall staffing levels, while ensuring that high-performing employees and other critical contributors within the company feel supported and motivated. Deloitte outlines key findings from extensive one-on-one interviews and polling of top business leaders from around the world, revealing their strategies for managing today's most pressing talent issues.

A new global IBM-sponsored study of mid-size businesses shows that most have initiatives underway that will reduce the environmental impact of their information technology.

Lower middle-income countries were found over a 10-year period to be more dependent on oil imports than low-income countries, making them more vulnerable to global oil price increases, according to a new study released by the World Bank’s Oil, Gas, and Mining Policy Division.

Collapsing oil prices have pulled oil rich countries into the global property malaise with capital values falling in emerging nations for the first time in the survey's history, says RICS Global Property Survey.

This year, according to the annual survey by BDO Seidman, LLP, one of the nation’s leading accounting and consulting organizations, nearly two-thirds (62%) of chief financial officers (CFOs) at leading U.S. technology businesses say that their companies outsource services or manufacturing. However, the survey results point to a likely decline in international outsourcing in 2009: twenty-two percent say the United States is the outsourcing destination they are most likely to consider in 2009, compared to sixteen percent for China and thirteen percent for India. Another nineteen percent report no interest in additional outsourcing.

Manufacturing labor productivity increased in 2007 in 14 of the 17 economies compared by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Republic of Korea and Taiwan had the largest productivity increases of 8.7 percent each. The United States productivity increase of 4.7 percent was the fourth largest. Singapore, included for the first time in these comparisons, had the steepest decline (-4.0 percent) of the three economies where productivity declined.

Consumer prices in the OECD area rose by 1.3% in the year to January 2009, compared with 1.5% in the year to December. Month-on-month, prices were broadly stable in January, after declining 0.5% in December.