'SENSITIVE' MARKETS SHOULD REBOUND - Yesterday the value of the Irish stock market plunged 4%, wiping out the recovery of previous days. Today the portents from overseas market suggest we might be in for a rebound.
Head of multi-manager investments at AIB Investment Managers Eugene Kiernan said there should be a recovery in Europe this morning.
Mr Kiernan said markets were very sensitive, which was why they responded to poor mortgage and retail sales figures from the US on Tuesday.
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BUILDING JOBS GROWTH TO EASE - FÁS - State employment agency FÁS has produced its latest quarterly review on employment in Ireland in a fortnight where warnings about competitiveness appear to be bearing bitter fruit.
FÁS economist Brian McCormick said the outlook for jobs growth was good, with the strongest performance in services. He said there could be a slowdown in construction jobs growth towards the end of the year because of an easing housing market.
Mr McCormick said construction employment was now on a par with manufacturing, and this was unsustainable in the long run. He said the National Development Plan would be a 'buffer' against the general construction employment slowdown.
The economist said there had been a slight fall-off so far this year in the number of foreign workers coming in, mainly because of an improvement in the labour market in countries such as Poland. But he said there had been an increase in the number of Romanian workers.
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NEWS IN BRIEF AND MARKETS - Microsoft announced last night that it would buy Tellme Networks, with a view towards using the firm's technology to enable people to search the internet by speaking instead of typing.
The euro is worth $1.32 and 68.3p sterling.
