GDP Grew 3.5% in Q4; Wages Up 0.8% in Q4; Fed Leaves Rate at 5.25%
The US economy grew at a faster-than-expected 3.5% pace in the final
quarter of 2006 on strong consumers spending, despite the housing slump,
according to
advance estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the
third quarter, real GDP increased 2.0%.
- Q1 2006: 5.6%, the fastest in 2 1/2 years.
- Q2 2006: 2.6%
- Q3 2006: 2.0%
- Q4 2006: 3.5%
- Full Year 2006 GDP growth: 3.4%, compared to 3.2% in 2005
Continue reading... "GDP Grew 3.5% in Q4; Wages Up 0.8% in Q4; Fed Leaves Rate at 5.25%" »
The U.S. copyright industries continue to lead
the U.S. economy in their contributions to job growth, gross domestic product
(GDP), and foreign sales/exports, accounting for 11.12% of GDP and 4.03%
of U.S. workers, with a 40% premium in wages over the average worker,
according to a 
Global wine consumption
over the next five years would grow by 9% in market value to $117
billion from $107 billion in 2005, according to a study commissioned by the organizers of the
The number of cellular connections
worldwide will
reach three billion by the end of 2007, having passed through 2.5 billion during September
2006, adding half billion connection in about 12 months, according to research firm Wireless
Intelligence, 
Private equity performance
was extremely steady with both buyout and venture capital asset classes continued to outperform both the S&P 500 and NASDAQ
markets in the long term, 
Advertising during
the Super Bowl game has accounted for 682 minutes (over 11 hours)
of commercial time
throughout the past 20 years (1987-2006), representing 221 different
advertisers, more than 1,400
commercial announcements, and translate into $1.72
billion of ad sales, 
Home-price increase of 1.3% was the
slowest pace in more than 10 years in the 12 months ending in November,
according to S&P/Case-Shiller
home-price index by MacroMarkets
and Standard & Poor's.
U.S.
companies plan to increase their online ad spending by 18% this year, faster than for any other major media
type, taking online’s share of overall ad market to 20%, according to
Outsell's annual ad spending report.
Total
ad spending
on the 2008 presidential race over the next two years could reach $1
billion, according to
Evan Tracey, chief operating officer of TNSMI/Campaign Media, 
The number of air travelers
worldwide is expected to double by 2025,
rising to more than 9 billion a year, according to the Airports Council International
(ACI) report "Global Traffic Forecast 2006-2025". There are currently about 4.2 billion
global air travelers a year.
Yahoo! continues to be the
number one online destination for U.S. internet users with over 131 million unique visitors in December,
followed by Time Warner (AOL), Microsofft, and Google sites, each of them
attracting over 100 million unique visitors, 
A
recent book, The Real Toy Story starts off reminding us how toys
inspire love and help children develop intellectually, physically,
emotionally and socially. But the rest of the book paints the industry as
a shiny apple that is practically rotten to the core, writes USA Today.
Here are just some interesting facts on the U.S. toy market.
Nearly
four out of five U.S. workers (84%) are not currently in their dream job,
according to a CareerBuilder.com national consumer employment survey,
conducted by Harris Interactive.
Search
giant Google has again topped the global brand ranking in 2006, followed
by Apple in 2nd place, with YouTube and Wikipedia debuting in the
top five, according to the annual survey by online
branding magazine brandchannel.com.
Modern technology has
become integral part of families today. A new Nickelodeon study titled
"The Digital Family" found that parents are embracing
technologies just as much as kids. 
