State-owned Anglo Irish Bank has reported a loss of €12.7bn for the 15 months to the end of December 2009 – the largest loss in Irish corporate history – - after charging €15bn to cover bad debts.
The European Commission today gave approval for the Irish Government to inject funds into Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide, but it has also begun an in-depth investigation into the total aid received so far by Anglo. New restructuring plans have to be submitted by June.
The seasonally adjusted Irish Live Register total increased from 432,400 in February to 433,000 in March, an increase of 600, according to the Central Statistics office (CSO).
The Central Bank reported today that the annual growth in Irish private sector credit fell again in February. Residential mortgage loans and household credit outstanding dipped.
The Eurozone (EA16) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 10.0% in February 2010, compared with 9.9% in January. It was 8.8% in February 2009. The EU27 unemployment rate was 9.6% in February 2010, compared with 9.5% in January. It was 8.3% in February 2009. For the Eurozone this is the highest rate since August 1998 and for [...]
Eurozone annual inflation is expected to rise to 1.5% in March 2010, according to a flash estimate issued today Eurostat, the statistics office of the European Union. It was 0.9% in February.
Markets news on stocks, currencies and commodities.
Bank of Ireland today reported a loss of €1.8bn for the nine months to December 31, 2009 after bad debt charges of €4.1bn.
Principal news stories from the Irish Independent, Irish Times, Irish Examiner, Financial Times and New York Times.
Irish Public Service Agreement 2010-2014: The agreement between the Government and trade unions on public sector reform could work but to paraphrase the writer George Bernard Shaw, Christianity could be a good thing if anyone ever tried it. Put simply, only a fool could bank full confidence on this hastily cobbled-together deal and to quote the [...]
March Eurozone survey data signalled a further monthly decline in retail sales in the single currency area. The rate of contraction eased since February, as signalled by a rise in the seasonally adjusted Eurozone Retail PMI to 46.9, from February’s eleven-month low of 44.6. However, on a quarterly basis, the decline in sales in Q1 [...]
Markets news on stocks, currencies and commodities.
Aer Lingus today reported pre-tax losses of €154.8m for the year ending December 2009, a 26.8% jump on the 2008 loss of €122.1m.
Principal news stories from the Irish Independent, Irish Times, Irish Examiner, Financial Times and New York Times.
This is Irish Banks’ Recapitilisation Day when the State will provide further funds of about two-thirds of annual tax revenues of €32bn to five of the six Irish lenders.
Speaking at the Warsaw School of Economics, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said on Monday that while the recent global financial crisis had exposed some weaknesses in Europe’s institutional framework, there is now an opportunity to strengthen integration and cooperation across the continent. “The crisis has been a setback, but the benefits of integration are [...]
The German Federal statistics office, Destatis, reported today that employers of the German private industry paid an average €30.90 per hour worked in 2009. Compared with the other European countries (EU26), the level of labour costs in Germany was eighth after Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Austria, Finland and the Netherlands. Denmark recorded the highest labour [...]
Markets news on stocks, currencies and oil.
AIB today announced that it is to increase some of its mortgage rates with effect from close of business today.
Both the Business Climate Index and the Economic Sentiment Index rose sharply in March in the Eurozone.
US ratings agency Standard & Poor’s, asks in a new report if China is ready to become the next economic superpower?
Dr. Peter Morici: Economists are looking for a breakthrough US employment report that will send the stock market soaring, and buoy Democrats coming off a big win on health care.
Further evidence of the recovery taking hold in many major economies worldwide comes via the latest KPMG Global Business Outlook survey, released today. Business confidence among manufacturers in Ireland is at its highest level since January 2007 but is still below international levels.
In the classic Oliver Stone 1987 movie, Wall Street, the Gordon Gekko character played by Michael Douglas, became an icon of the decade because of his mantra on greed. More than two decades later, in the sequel Money Never Sleeps, the free-from-prison Gekko says: “Someone reminded me I once said ‘Greed is good.’ Now it [...]
In the fourth quarter of 2009, 1,446,000 overseas trips were made to Ireland compared with 1,665,000 in the same period of 2008, this represented a decrease of 13%. Business trips decreased by 30%, while trips spent visiting friends/relatives increased by 5%, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
