Daily Market Comment

09.03.2010

The euro fell back against the dollar and yen overnight, with traders taking profits on recent moves ahead of key meetings between the US and Greece. Greek PM Papandreou was said to be seeking support from the Obama administration to rein in market speculation he blames for driving up Greece's borrowing costs. Although the euro had started the week on a strong note largely on the back of a spike in risk aversion, the overnight moves suggest that the market fears regarding sovereign risk have not fully dissipated as yet. Under pressure once again at the $1.50 level, sterling’s recovery versus the dollar has also faltered, with the UK currency also slipping back towards 0.91p versus the euro

Weekly Market Brief

05.03.2010 Weekly Market Brief - 05 March

Schedule of data releases and key market events for week commencing 8th March

Monthly Housing Market Bulletin

08.03.2010 Irish Housing Market Bulletin - March 2010

Construction activity continues to decline, but its not all bad news. The number of new housing registrations has fallen further but a decline in output is necessary to erode the overhang of unsold vacant stock. Meanwhile, the level of overstocking in rental market is falling while rents may be stabilising while activity is apparently picking up in the existing homes market. Thus, while residential construction activity remains depressed, there are some hints of more positive trends emerging for the Irish property market.

Central Bank Watch

04.03.2010 ECB Watch March 2010

At its policy meeting today, the European Central Bank again left its refi rate unchanged at 1% for the tenth month running. It also continued to give the strong impression that rates will not be increased anytime soon as the ECB expects economic recovery to be moderate and uneven and price pressures to remain subdued. Indeed, the latest ECB’s staff quarterly economic forecasts were published today also. Meanwhile, the ECB gave information today about the further steps that will be taken in Q2 2010 in the the gradual withdrawal of its non-standard liquidity support measures for the banking system.