Dominique Strauss-Kahn, IMF (International Monetary Fund) Managing Director, said at the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, this week-end that too many of the world’s leading economies are fooling themselves in believing foreign export demand will drive their recoveries from the global recession.
Real US gross domestic product (GDP) increased at 5.7 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2009 after increasing 2.2 percent in the third quarter, according to estimates released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Markets news on stocks, commodities and currencies; Shares rise in Europe; Gates Foundation announces $10bn vaccines fund in Davos; Samsung overtakes HP in global sales.
Irish Economy: The Central Bank said today in its first Quarterly Bulletin of the year, that the economy appears to be close to the trough of the downturn in output terms, although some weakness will persist into the first half of this year, and there are likely to be further employment losses. Recovery, when it [...]
The Eurozone (EA16) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 10.0% in December 2009, compared with 9.9% in November. It was 8.2% in December 2008. The EU27 unemployment rate was 9.6% in December 2009, compared with 9.5% in November. It was 7.6% in December 2008. For the Eurozone this is the highest rate since August 1998 and for [...]
Eurozone annual inflation is expected to be 1.0% in January 2010 according to a flash estimate issued by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. Separately, reports from the European Central Bank (ECB) showed that bank lending will remain tight in Q1 2010 and M3 money supply growth remained negative in December.
Microsoft reported on Thursday that consumer demand for Windows 7 helped give it a 60% increase in profit during the last quarter. Another Seattle-based tech giant, Amazon, posted a blowout quarter, growing its share of US retail in the holiday quarter. Net income jumped 71%, driven by a 42% increase in sales that stretched across [...]
Principal news stories from the Irish Independent, Irish Times, Irish Examiner, Financial Times and New York Times.
Ireland is one of a small number of the 24 rich countries of the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that has suffered the worst of the global recession but it is striking that beyond short-term measures to correct the public finance imbalances, there is no evidence of serious interest in fundamental reform [...]
Japan’s manufacturing continued to improve in January but new business growth was weak. At 52.5, the seasonally adjusted Nomura/JMMA PMI (Purchasing Managers’ Index) pointed to a moderate improvement in operating conditions in the Japanese manufacturing sector at the start of 2010. Japan’s industrial production rose 2.2% in December 2009, from a month earlier, according to [...]
Ernst & Young in cooperation with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), issued a report late Thursday, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. It highlights how globalisation slowed during the financial crisis and the subsequent downturn. But as the economy recovers in 2010 the growth of globalisation will once again resume, although at a [...]
Based on preliminary data the world trade volume expanded by 1.1% in November from the previous month, following an increase of 1.4% in October (revised upward from 0,8%), according to the CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis. World import volumes increased by 2.6% in November whereas world export volumes declined by 0.3%. The CPB [...]
Markets news on stocks, currencies and oil; European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet on Thursday said Greece’s present economic troubles are common to other advanced states. Speaking on the same panel as Trichet today in Davos, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said that Greece has “not asked for money anywhere else.” He added: “We are [...]
President Obama in his first State of the Union address to the US Congress on Wednesday night, focused on jobs and reducing the national deficit, dedicating almost two-thirds of his speech to economic issues, at a time of political ferment in Washington DC, a week following the dramatic loss of the late Edward Kennedy’s Senate [...]
Apple on Wednesday launched the iPad, which it termed “a revolutionary device for browsing the web, reading and sending email, enjoying photos, watching videos, playing games, reading e-books, and much more.”
The international financial position of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) as an emerging power, has improved beyond recognition, reflected largely in their large official FX reserves, according to Deutsche Bank economist Markus Jaeger.
Markets news on stocks, currencies and oil; Sales of new homes in the US unexpectedly fell in December 2009 in a signal that the impact of a government tax credit is waning. Sales in 2009 were the lowest since at least 1963.
The German government today revised up its forecast of 2010 economic growth in its twice yearly outlook. The Eurozone’s biggest economy will grow 1.4 per cent this year, compared with the 1.2 per cent growth forecast in October. However, Deutsche Bank, Germany’s biggest, is forecasting growth of more than 2 per cent.
Markets news on stocks, currencies and commodities; Tullow OIl shares are down 5.3% in London this morning, after it announced plans to raise £1 billion in a placing with institutional investors.
Japan’s exports rose 12.1 per cent in December compared with the same month in 20098, while imports fell 5.5 per cent, according to the Ministry of Finance in Tokyo today, signalling that export demand from Asia, is boosting the economic recovery. China surpassed the US as Japan’s largest export market for the first time on [...]
Principal news stories from the Irish Independent, Irish Times, Irish Examiner, Financial Times and New York Times.
The global economy is at last shaking off the financial crisis, the IMF (International Monetary Fund) says. Financial markets have rebounded since the lows following the 2008 collapse of the Wall Street investment firm Lehman Brothers – – the result of improving economic conditions and wide-ranging policy actions by central banks and governments, according to [...]
Davos 2010: European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, who will arrive in Davos, Switzerland today for the world Economic Forum, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, offered qualified support for President Obama’s plan to limit the size and activities of large banks, while stressing such proposals should be coordinated globally. Separately on Tuesday, [...]
Markets news on stocks, currencies and oil; Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s today cut the ratings on several Irish banks, saying that it has concluded that their asset quality and earnings will likely remain under significant pressure over the medium term. Meanwhile, Tullow Oil plc today announced that its subsidiary, Tullow Uganda Limited has entered [...]
The Conference Board’s US Consumer Confidence Index, which had increased in December, improved further in January. The Index now stands at 55.9 (1985=100), up from 53.6 in December. The Present Situation Index increased to 25.0 from 20.2. The Expectations Index increased to 76.5 from 75.9 last month.
