Brazil, Uruguay move away from US dollar in trade

Brazil and Uruguay have switched to settling bilateral trade with local currency to stimulate turnover, bypassing the US dollar. Payments in the Brazilian real and Uruguayan peso started on Monday. The agreement was signed on November 2 by the head of Brazilian...

Unemployment down to 10.7% in November – CSO

The standardised unemployment rate in November was 10.7 per cent, down from the revised figure of 10.9 per cent in October, new figures from the Central Statistics Office have shown. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the Live Register recorded a monthly decrease of...

Oil hits five year low, emerging stocks hammered

(Reuters) – Oil prices fell to their lowest in five years on Monday, hit by slowing factory activity in China and Europe and hammering emerging market stocks and commodity-linkedcurrencies. Plunging prices for oil and other commodities raised fears of deflation,...

Irish manufacturing continues to expand as orders flood in

Irish manufacturing activity increased for the 18th month in a row in November as exporters saw new orders flood in at the fastest rate in almost four years, a survey showed. The Investec Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index stood at 56.2 in November, down from...

Consumers set to spend almost €4bn over Christmas

Irish shops are bracing themselves for their best Christmas since the nadir of the economic collapse, with a new report suggesting consumers are set to spend €4 billion between now and the new year. The upbeat forecast is contained in Retail Ireland’s Christmas...