Archive for November 2020

Housing output was not as severely affected by the pandemic restrictions as previously thought, according to Goodbody. Its latest BER Housebuilding Tracker – which it calculates using data from Building Energy Regulation certificates – estimates that 5,500 units were completed in the third quarter of the year. That was up from 3,290 in the second…

Business activity for Ireland’s services sector suffered a second monthly decline in October as uncertainty over the pandemic and Brexit hit expectations, according to the AIB Ireland Services PMI. The “renewed downturn” in activity followed a brief period of growth in July and August after the economy re-opened following the first Covid-19 lockdown. The rate…

Almost 330,000 people will receive the Pandemic Unemployment Payment this week – up over 11% in the last seven days, according to the latest Department of Social Protection figures. The figure reflects the continuing upward trajectory of unemployment since Level 5 restrictions were imposed by the Government in a bid to quell the latest surge…

European stocks slid this morning in early trade as the race for the White House remained too close to call.  London’s FTSE index had dipped 0.1%, while the Paris CAC was down 0.3% and the Frankfurt DAX dropped 1.1% in early trade. Dublin’s ISEQ index was also lower, dropping 1% in the first half hour…

Shares recovered globally from one-month lows yesterday as strengthening factory data in China and Europe offset news of new virus lockdowns, while investors prepared for more volatility arising from the US presidential election. A boom in eurozone manufacturing in October helped Europe leave behind a cautious start after the UK became the latest country in…

The Cabinet meets this morning with Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys expected to bring a memo proposing the formal establishment of a Commission on Pensions. Under the Coalition’s programme for government, the pension age will be maintained at 66 pending the completion of the Commission’s work – a position confirmed in last month’s Budget speech…

The Irish SME Association (ISME) has written to all TDs in Ireland to express its grave concern at the latest national “lockdown” due to Covid-19.  ISME told the TDs that it believes there are more effective, evidence-based and successful ways to respond to Covid-19, other than an arbitrary national lockdown.  The association called on TDs…

Two in five people stay they began shopping online for the first time at the start of the pandemic. It comes as an initial lockdown in Ireland at the end of March forced all non-essential retailers to temporarily pull down their shutters. Over half of consumers are increasingly shopping online due to Covid-19, according to…

The private rental market is among the few areas of the commercial property sector to so far escape being negatively impacted by the threat of a hard Brexit and Covid-19. This is due, in part, to a continued shortage of supply. There has been an escalation in interest from both domestic and international investors in…

Europe’s economic recovery is being cut short as governments implement new restrictions to fight the coronavirus that risk driving the region toward another recession. The four biggest economies are going into various forms of lockdown, overshadowing data that showed a record surge in third-quarter output. A new slump is on the cards, governments are pumping…