G20 SUMMIT TO DISCUSS DOLLAR'S CURRENT POSITION IN THE WORLD - More deals and less 'pathetic consensus' is what French president Nicolas Sarkozy wants out of G20, and if he does not get deals he has threatened to walk out. He says the G20 leaders, who held their first crisis summit in November, have to do more than renew pledges on growth and cracking down on financial market excess. Elsewhere Japan and Germany are squabbling over public spending. But one of the main subjects under discussion will the dollar. Even en route to London yesterday, US President Barack Obama had to fight his and his currency's corner, after calls from both China and Russia to work out a new currency system, replacing the dollar. Obama said the US dollar 'is now and will remain' the world's reserve currency and the strength of the US economy is unmatched.
Charlie Larkin from the Economics Department at Trinity College Dublin says a reserve currency is one which is essentially the way in which international transactions are cleared and one which a country can hold in its central bank as an asset and which can be used to clear external deficits. Mr Larkin points out that no-one actually said that the world's reserve currency should be dollar, but says that these things tend to happen over a long period of time and the dollar has been the dominate reserve currency since the end of World War 2 and will remain so at least until the end of the Obama administration.
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MORNING BRIEFS - After its shares were suspended yesterday, bathroom suites manufactuer Qualceram Shires has appointed an examiner as it looks for protection from creditors. The company said Ernst and Young's David Hughes has been appointed to the company and all of its Irish registered subsidiaries. Recently the company has carried out most of its business in the UK. This follows record number of insolvencies reported over the last few months.
*** Figures released today by insolvency firm Kavanagh Fennel show that insolvencies increased by 140% in the first three months of this year compared with the same time last year. Total insolvencies in January, February and March came to 329 compared to 137 for the same period last year and 78 for the first quarter of 2007. The findings are published on Kavanagh Fennel's website www.insolvencyjournal.ie.
*** Shares on Wall Street saw a bounce last night, with the three main indices up by over 1%. March was kind to the US market. By the end of the first quarter the Dow Jones is down 14.3% for the year, but it is up 6.5% in March - the first month's rise in six months. The S&P 500 is down 12.8% year-to-date, but up 7.1% in March. Year-to-date, the Nasdaq is down 4.8%. For the month of March, it is up 10%, its best March performance since it was set up in 1971.
*** Japan's business confidence has hit a record low. The fall in global demand has halved its exports and slashed production of Japanese cars and electronics, pushing it into its worst recession since World War Two. Capital expenditure figures there were also the second lowest on record.
*** On the currency markets, the euro is trading at $1.3204 cents and 92.41 pence sterling.
