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Manufacturing activity grew for just the second time in eight months in January amid greater certainty around Brexit and signs that a slowdown in euro zone economic activity may be bottoming out. Six years of unbroken manufacturing growth came to an end in June as a slowdown in global trade and uncertainty over Britain’s departure…

The European Union’s banking watchdog has launched its toughest stress test of lenders to check on their resilience to very low interest rates, trade tensions and Britain failing to get an EU trade deal after Brexit. The European Banking Authority (EBA) said its fifth test since the aftermath of the financial crisis a decade ago,…

Household wealth has recovered by over 80% since 2013, mainly due to the recovery in the property market.  The finding is contained in the Household Finance and Consumption Survey published by the Central Statistics Office today.    The survey also finds a wide disparity in wealth between the top 10% and bottom 10% of households.  There are 1.8…

Euro zone economic growth was slower than expected in the last three months of 2019, a first estimate showed today.  Meanwhile, inflation in January picked up in line with expectations thanks to a jump in prices of food, alcohol and tobacco and energy.  The European Union’s statistics office Eurostat said gross domestic product in the…

Nearly 140 governments have agreed to launch a rewrite of decades-old cross-border tax rules for the digital age over the coming months, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation said after talks this week in Paris.  The rise of Amazon, Facebook and Google has strained existing rules to breaking point because big tech companies can book profits in…

First time buyer activity continued to drive the mortgage market in the final three months of last year, new figures from the Banking & Payments Federation Ireland show. A total of 12,259 mortgages to the value of almost €2.77 billion were drawn down in the three months from October to December. This represented an increase…

European stock markets rebounded on Tuesday, having lost ground in recent sessions due to fears of the impact of China’s coronavirus outbreak. Banks and luxury goods companies led the recovery, while leisure and airline stocks also clawed back losses as investors took the view that the right steps were being taken to contain the illness.…

The construction sector is under Celtic Tiger levels of pressure and is in danger of overheating, according to a new report from construction consultants Mitchell McDermott. The report says 30,000 additional construction workers are required if housing targets are to be met. It says construction output grew by 12% last year, but the number of workers only…

A new report shows that Dublin is the 17th most congested city in the world, with motorists spending an average of eight days and 21 hours sitting in peak traffic a year. The TomTom Traffic Index examines the traffic situation in 416 cities in 57 countries around the world.  The report showed that congestion has…

The volume of retail sales increased by 5.8% on an annual basis in December compared to annual growth of 1.4% in November, the Central Statistics Office said today. Today’s figures show that retail sales volumes rose by 3.6% in December from November, with sales of food, beverages and tobacco; and cars showing the largest increase.…