America’s most famous investor, Warren Buffett, today issued the latest of his celebrated “letters” to investors and reported that his holding company Berkshire Hathaway had achieved a jump in fourth-quarter profit on the recovery of derivative bets tied to the world’s stock markets.
The European Commission has approved the establishment of the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA), the State toxic property loans relief scheme for financial institutions in Ireland. The Commission says it is satisfied that the scheme is in line with its guidelines on impaired asset relief for banks that allow State aid to remedy a serious [...]
US real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annualised 5.9 percent 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. The fourth-quarter growth rate was revised up 0.2 percentage point from the advance estimate released in January. [...]
Irish private sector credit continued to decline in January according to data issued today by the Central Bank.
Eurozone annual inflation was 1.0% in January 2010, up from 0.9% in December 2009. A year earlier the rate was 1.1%. Monthly inflation was -0.8% in January 2010. EU27 annual inflation was 1.7% in January 2010, up from 1.5% in December 2009. A year earlier the rate was 1.8%. Monthly inflation was -0.5% in January [...]
Markets news on stocks, currencies and commodities; UK GDP (gross domestic product) for the fourth quarter of 2009, was revised up to 0.3% from the third quarter, compared with a previous announcement of 0.1% growth, the Office for National Statistics said today in London.
Top US hedge fund managers are wagering big bets against the euro and at an “idea dinner” at a private townhouse in Manhattan, earlier this month, they plotted how they could make big killings from euro woes and the Greek crisis.
Output at Japanese manufacturers rose solidly in February, extending the current period of growth to nine months according to PMI (Purchasing Managers’ Index) survey data issued today. Where a rise in production was signalled, panellists generally attributed this to greater inflows of new orders. Meanwhile, Japan’s industrial output increased for an 11th consecutive month in [...]
Principal news stories from the Irish Independent, Irish Times, Irish Examiner, Financial Times and New York Times.
As Europe embarks on its projected recovery, wide differences in economic performance and financial stresses will persist, IMF officials say. Meanwhile, the European Commission in its interim economic forecast, says the economic outlook for the EU remains broadly unchanged with the recovery in progress but remaining “fragile.” GDP (gross domestic product) is projected to grow [...]
The small Baltic republic of Estonia, with a population of 1.34 million, says it is ready to become the Eurozone’s 17th member country.
Eurozone retail sales survey data for February signalled another tough trading month with the seasonally adjusted Eurozone Retail PMI (Purchasing Managers’ Index) falling further to 44.2, the lowest reading since March 2009 and indicative of the sharpest monthly dip in sales in the interval. The PMI was also below its long-run trend level of 48.9 [...]
Eircom today reported profit of €327m before adjustments, for the six months to the end of 2009, down 3% on the same period a year earlier.
Ulster Bank today reported a loss of £368m for 2009 according to figures from its parent bank Royal Bank of Scotland. This compares with a profit of £218m in 2008. RBS reported a net loss of £3.6bn compared with a loss of £24.3bn a year earlier.
Principal news stories from the Irish Independent, Irish Times, Irish Examiner, Financial Times and New York Times.
Morgan Stanley Chairman John Mack said on Tuesday that investment bankers are overpaid and Wall Street compensation won’t fall much because firms don’t want to lose their best performers.
Inflation is not the solution but it’s tempting to think that the US can inflate its way out of its fiscal problems.
Markets news on stocks, currencies and oil; US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said today that the US economy is in a “nascent” recovery that still requires low interest rates to promote demand by consumers and businesses once federal stimulus expires.
Sales of new single-family houses in January 2010 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 309,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the US Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 11.2% below the revised December rate of 348,000 and is 6.1 percent below the January 2009 estimate [...]
US loans fell 7.5% in 2009, the largest annual decline since 1942, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Great Depression era agency which guarantees bank deposits.
Seasonally adjusted Irish merchandise exports fell by 2% in December, relative to November 2009 and imports also decreased by 5%. November 2009 exports remained unchanged from October 2009 while imports increased by 8%. On an unadjusted basis, the value of exports in December 2009 fell by 11% from December 2008, while the value of imports [...]
Dr. Peter Morici: US Government is broken. Nothing demonstrates this better than health care.
Debt retrenchment in Europe will be “extremely painful” and take up to 20 years, the chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned on Tuesday.
Markets news on stocks, currencies and oil.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Ireland dropped in 2009, with job creation by foreign multinationals dipping 42 per cent to 7,500.
