The U.S. retained the No.-1 spot in the annual "Rankings of the World Competitiveness Yearbook 2006." Released this week by the IMD business school of Lausanne, Switzerland, the rankings are based on a study of 61 national and regional economies.

Retaining its 2005 runner-up status was Hong Kong, while Singapore and Iceland remained in third and fourth, respectively. Denmark moved up to fifth place, from 7th in 2005; and Australia moved up to 6th place after placing 9th last year. Canada dropped from 7th to 5th place, and Switzerland retained its 2005 spot in 8th place. Luxembourg and Finland rounded out the top 10.

Meanwhile, China moved from 31st place in 2005 to 19, and India jumped from 39 to 29, while South Korea fell from 29th to 38th, and Japan moved from 21 in 2005 to 17 in 2006.

To view the list, click on this link: www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8HHL0Q01.htm?campaign_id=apn_home_down&chan=db -- Joe Roybal