Archive for February 2020

China said it would halve tariffs on $75 billion-worth of US imports as part of its trade truce with Washington and as officials look to calm markets unnerved by the deadly virus outbreak.  The State Council Tariff Commission said the reductions would come in a month after China and the US signed a deal to dial…

The number of people signing on the Live Register fell in January to the lowest level since the start of 2008, new figures from the Central Statistics Office show. The CSO said the Live Register fell by 1,300 in January to bring the seasonally adjusted total to 183,900.  On a seasonally adjusted basis, the number…

Almost 23,000 business startups were formed in Ireland last year, according to a report from company intelligence firm CRIF Vision-net. This is up 1.2pc on 2018, and is the highest number of startups over a 12-month period in CRIF’s 29-year history. Startups exceeded company closures by more than 10,400 in 2019. Firms operating in the…

Consumer sentiment hit a six-month high in January, buoyed by the reduced risk of a disorderly British exit from the European Union. But sentiment was still sharply lower in January than it was a year ago. Ireland has remained the European Union’s fastest growing economy during three years of Brexit talks, but consumer confidence faltered…

The US trade deficit fell last year to $616.8 billion, the first time the gap has narrowed since 2013 as imports, particularly from China, declined more than exports, according to government data released today.  As President Donald Trump’s trade confrontations escalated in 2019, the total trade gap shrunk by nearly $10 billion as exports fell…

The country’s services sector grew at the fastest pace in seven months in January, a new survey today showed. This was the second survey this week to suggest the euro zone’s fastest-growing economy made a strong start to the year.  A slowdown in manufacturing activity in Ireland threatened to spread to the services sector as…

Euro zone factory activity contracted again in January but did so at its shallowest rate since mid-2019, according to a survey which suggested the worst may be over for the bloc’s battered manufacturing industry.  IHS Markit’s final manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to a nine-month high of 47.9 in January. This was just above a…

New research reveals that Irish businesses are experiencing the worst talent shortage since 2006, with three-quarters unable to fill vacant roles. The latest survey by the Manpower Group says the skills gap increased more than five times over the past decade, jumping from 5 per cent in 2009 to 27 per cent now. The survey…

The unemployment rate rose slightly in January, according to the Central Statistics Office, but continues to fall on an annual basis. The seasonally-adjusted rate stood at 4.8% last month – up 0.1 percentage points compared to December. However it is 0.3 percentage points lower than the rate recorded in January 2019. Last month the seasonally-adjusted…

Lending to households grew for the third year in row last year, mainly on the back of growth in home mortgages, new figures from the Central Bank show today. The Central Bank said that household lending rose by 2.1%, or by €1.9 billion, in 2019. The annual growth rate in lending to buy a home…