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Oil rose on Monday to break a three-day losing streak, after futures traders increased their bets on a renewed price upswing even though rising US drilling helped keep physical markets bloated. Brent crude futures were up by 85 cents at $49 per barrel by midday, after hitting a session high of $49.15. US West Texas […]

Mobile phone charges for roaming calls and texts in the EU are to finally end this week. However, consumers are being warned that they could still face steep EU roaming bills for using services such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram. The new EU-wide law comes into force on Thursday, June 15. Under the rules, all […]

Taoiseach-designate Leo Varadkar said on Monday that Theresa May’s failure to win a majority in last week’s election might result in a softer Brexit. Varadkar said that members of Northern Ireland’s DUP, who May is looking to for support in government to achieve a working majority, and the Scottish wing of the Conservative party would […]

Activity in Ireland’s construction sector accelerated sharply last month and at one of the fastest rates in the 17-year history of the Ulster Bank Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index. Figures released this morning show the sector continues to remain upbeat. The index rose to 63.6 in May, compared to 61.3 in April. Any figure over 50 […]

Yields on this week’s €500m auction of short-term government debt are expected to remain in negative territory as investors continue to pay the state for the privilege of holding their money. The National Treasury Management Agency announced in a statement today that it has scheduled an auction of one-year dated Treasury Bills for Thursday morning. […]

As the UK election bombshell unfolds this morning, business owners in Ireland already having to deal with the uncertainty around Brexit will be waking up to further reasons for concern. Below are three things that Irish businesses should monitor. 1. Falling sterling Falling sterling – for now the market is reacting very sensitively to developments. […]

Sterling dived and the FTSE share index was set to fall 1pc on Friday after a shockingly bad election result for Prime Minister Theresa May plunged Britain into political chaos days before the start of Brexit talks. The surprise of a result that raises questions about how Britain will advance with its plan to leave […]

Mario Draghi has given the clearest indication yet that the era of record low borrowing costs is drawing to a close. The European Central Bank (ECB) ruled out further interest-rate cuts yesterday, in a sign that it’s moving towards the final chapter of a vast stimulus program that pumped cheap cash into the financial system […]

The cost of motor insurance premiums fell for the second month in a row in May. New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that motor cover was 8.6pc cheaper last month than a year earlier. It comes after a fall of 2.6pc in the cost of insurance in April. Overall price changes were flat […]

The rebound in demand for Irish sovereign debt shows little sign of dwindling following this morning’s €1bn auction by the National Treasury Management Agency. In a further indication that Ireland’s economy has regained a normalised footing after its crippling banking crisis, investors piled into the sale pushing yields below comparable issuances earlier this year. A […]