BRIGHT START TO US COMPANY RESULTS SEASON - While Wall Street closed sharply lower last night after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said the outlook for US economic recovery from recession was 'unusually uncertain', company results there this week have been largely positive.
Ben Bernanke was speaking just after President Obama signed into law the most wide-ranging reforms of the American financial sector since the depression of the 1930s.
Art Hogan of Jefferies & Co in Boston said the Q2 results season had given more good news than bad, with more companies surprising markets with better than expected results.
Asked about the overall US economic picture, Mr Hogan said there was an increasing fear of deflation, or falling prices, in the US. He said it was very difficult to fight the problem.
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FORESTS COULD BE KEY PLANK FOR GROWTH - The good news for timber growers is that prices in their market are not stable, as the price paid for Irish wood has more than doubled in the past six months, as Ireland faces a shortage in supply.
Donal Whelan, a director at the Irish Timber Growers' Association, said the international timber markets were 'excellent' at the moment, and Irish sawmills had developed export markets.
But he said it was estimated that there would be a 'critical' shortage of roundwood supply in Ireland within eight years. He said Ireland needed to plant more forests to be ready for any pick-up in domestic demand. Mr Whelan said Ireland had forest cover of around 10%, compared with an EU average of 35%.
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CURRENCIES - The euro is trading at $1.2770 and 84.1p sterling.
