Eurozone industrial production surged in January posted its biggest monthly increase on record and figures for December were also revised upward. The foreign-owned chemical sector boosted Irish production by 15.3%.
The Innovation Ireland Taskforce’s report which was launched by Taoiseach Brian Cowen on Thursday, is an aspirational rather than a strategic document. It does not set out costs and supporting start-up growth and jobs targets with credible data. In the US banks and credit-card companies contribute most money for start-ups, not venture capital companies, as commonly thought.
Principal news stories from the Irish Independent, Irish Times, Irish Examiner, Financial Times and New York Times.
The new head of financial regulation in Ireland, Matthew Elderfield, outlined plans on Thursday for a more effective supervision of the banking and financial sector, in his first public speech.
Without reform, annual per employee health care costs for American companies will triple to nearly ,000 by 2019 according to a report commissioned by the Business Roundtable, an association of chief executive officers of leading US companies.
World trade is still showing a mixed recovery after collapsing by nearly 13% in 2009 but it is heading for double-digit growth in 2010. The emerging markets have seen external trade pick up strongly and in some cases rapidly, unlike the developed economies. In a few instances, the export performance of emerging markets is close or above the pre-crisis levels.
Markets news on stocks, currencies and oil; Annual production for Irish Manufacturing Industries in January 2010 was 2.3% higher than in January 2009.
The Taoiseach, Brian Cowen today launched the report of the Innovation Ireland Taskforce in the Science Gallery, Dublin. The Government said the report will be an important part of the marketing message the Taoiseach and other Ministers will be taking abroad over St. Patrick’s Day.
The US trade deficit narrowed to .29 billion in January, the Commerce Department said today. A 1.7% drop in imports outpaced a 0.3% drop in exports as the volume of oil imports hit its lowest level in more than a decade. The 2009 trade gap was 8.6 billion.
