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comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the U.S. search marketplace. Google Sites led the explicit core search market in August with 64.8 percent of search queries conducted.

The Producer Price Index for finished goods was unchanged in August, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Finished goods prices advanced 0.2 percent in July and declined 0.4 percent in June. At the earlier stages of processing, prices received by manufacturers of intermediate goods decreased 0.5 percent in August, and the crude goods index moved up 0.2 percent. On an unadjusted basis, prices for finished goods increased 6.5 percent for the 12 months ended August 2011, the smallest year-over-year advance since a 5.6- percent rise in March 2011.

The benchmark conforming 30-year fixed mortgage rate set a new record for the fourth consecutive week, dropping to 4.32 percent, according to Bankrate.com's weekly national survey. The average 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.42 discount and origination points.

Raddon Financial Group (RFG), a provider of research-based solutions to financial institutions and a strategic business unit of Open Solutions Inc.®, has found that while Wall Street cheered early reports the recession had ended, Main Street Americans didn’t believe the news. The shaky recovery is now giving way to fears of a double dip recession, and an RFG report titled Wall Street Learns What Main Street Knew All Along shows most Americans don’t expect improvement in the next six months.

Gallup and Healthways, Inc. released findings from the monthly Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index® (WBI) for August 2011. The overall WBI composite score remains relatively high at 66.1. This is the first year-over-year obesity scores have declined since measurement began in 2008. The obesity score was at 25.9% in August, continuing a slow trend in obesity reduction nationally over the course of 2011.

U.S. import prices declined 0.4 percent in August, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported, led by a 1.8 percent decrease in fuel prices. The August drop in import prices followed a 0.3 percent rise the previous month. In contrast, prices for U.S. exports rose 0.5 percent after declining 0.4 percent in July.

The majority of Americans think that planning for retirement is easier for those who are not married, according to Charles Schwab’s latest quarterly retirement pulse survey findings. More than half (53 percent) of married Americans and more than two-thirds (69 percent) of singles say they believe it is easier to make major financial decisions for retirement when there is no spouse in the picture.

Another holiday season is approaching, meaning another opportunity for retailers to increase sales, boost new customer acquisition and fatten their revenue totals for the year. Based on ecommerce spending trends so far this year, online and multichannel merchants are optimistic, always depending on the slippery road of economic recovery.

Americans maintain remarkably consistent views on the importance of manufacturing despite year after year of economic turbulence, according to a new survey from Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute, with 86 percent of respondents believing that America's manufacturing base is "important" or "very important" to their standard of living.

According to the latest Citibank small business survey, the majority of small business owners believe they are poised to grow or are already in growth mode. Forty nine percent say they are “holding their own, but poised to grow when the climate is right” and 28 percent indicated they are already growing. Despite feeling as though they are primed to grow should the opportunity present itself, the vast majority (90%) of small business owners remain concerned about the economy, including the possibility of a double-dip recession. The results also show an increasing trend in small businesses feeling more prepared to withstand longer-term challenges.