INSURANCE RESCUE SWINGS US MARKETS - There were wild swings on US stock markets last night, with Wall Street markets ending higher after initial losses.
Kevin McConnell, head of research at Bloxham Stockbrokers, said it took time for markets to digest the impact of the US Federal Reserve's rate cut, while a meeting to help bail out bond insurers also helped sentiment. Bond insurers insure investors against losses in bond assets, many of which are linked to US sub-prime mortgages.
Mr McConnell said markets were extremely volatile, and this was likely to last for a couple of weeks.
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MEETING AIMS TO BOOST HEALTH RESEARCH - Today in Dublin, the first health research round-table will take place. HSE chief Brendan Drumm is due to kick things off. One of the organisers is consultancy Prospectus.
Prospectus managing director Vincent Barton said the aim was to help improve Ireland's health research performance. He said this area was potentially important for the economy, as well as patients.
Mr Barton said people from the healthcare sector and the research policy sector would come together with a view to forming research partnerships. He said the health economy was worth €17 billion, while drugs and pharmaceutical exports were worth €47 billion.
Mr Barton said the caring and treatment side of health represented a 'latent pool of talent', and it had been difficult to connect this with academia, funders and industrial policy makers.
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NEWS IN BRIEF - EBay said last night that its chief executive Meg Whitman would step down in March, as the company announced net profits for the last quarter of 2007 of $530m.
