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US consumer prices increased moderately in July, though rising costs for goods because of import tariffs led to a measure of underlying inflation posting its largest gain in six months. The US consumer price index rose 0.2% last month after gaining 0.3% in June, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said today. In the…

Australia’s central bank cut its key interest rate to its lowest in two years today, but warned global challenges continue to cause uncertainty. The Reserve Bank of Australia cut the cash rate by 25 basis points to 3.6%, citing steady progress in bringing inflation down. “Uncertainty in the world economy remains elevated,” the bank’s monetary…

Norway’s $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, posted a 698 billion Norwegian crowns ($68.28 billion) profit for the first half of the year, lifted by strong returns among stocks in the financial industry, it said today. The fund’s overall return for the January-June period was 5.7%, which was 0.05 percentage point lower than…

The latest doddl.ie Mortgage Switching Index suggests that thousands of mortgage holders on variable rates could be paying over 2.25 percentage points more than necessary. Doddl.ie said that despite the return of sub-3% variable rates to the market, many borrowers remain on legacy variable products of up to 5.25%, adding that while fixed rates have…

Irish consumers last year turned their back on €66.7m when they failed to cash in their deposits for drink containers through the Government’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). That is according to the 2024 annual report for Re-Turn which shows that the failure by consumers to redeem the €66m worth in deposits for their drink containers…

Almost 12,000 home energy upgrades were carried out in the first three months of the year through Government funded grant schemes. This is up 2% on the number of upgrades carried out during the same period last year. New figures from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) reveal that Government expenditure across all schemes…

After months of negotiations, on again-off again tariffs, delayed implementation dates and threatened higher levies, Donald Trump’s 15% tariff on most imports from the EU to the US took effect at midnight on Thursday. It means many Irish products being exported to the US now face a tariff of 15% with, so far, very few…

The unemployment rate increased slightly in July when compared to the previous month, new figures from the Central Statistics Office show. The seasonally adjusted rate was 4.9%, up from 4.6% in June. The monthly youth unemployment rate for those aged 15-24 jumped to 12.2%, from 11.3% the previous month. The rate for those aged 25-74…

US trade partners such as Switzerland, Brazil and India were still scrambling to get a better deal as President Donald Trump’s higher tariff rates on imports from dozens of countries kicked in, raising the average US import duty to its highest in a century. The US Customs and Border Protection agency began collecting the higher…

Food prices increased by 4.7% in July when compared to the same month last year, new data from the Central Statistics Office shows. The Consumer Price Index reveals that the average price of two litres of full fat milk jumped by 28 cents in the past year to €2.47, while a pound of butter increased…