CHINESE COOLING MEASURES START TO BITE - Beijing's plans to slow growth in the runaway Chinese economy have worked. Figures today show that in April, May and June annual gross domestic product growth growth moderated to 10.3%, from 11.9% in the first three months of the year.
The Chinese government has been steering monetary and fiscal policy back to normal after a record credit surge last year.
Margaret Ward in Beijing said the figures reflected a slowdown in stimulus spending and measures to cool inflation and calm the property market.
Meanwhile, Chinese bank AgBank is floating in China and Hong Kong. It is the fourth of the big four Chinese banks to go public. Margaret Ward says it now wants to be one of the world's global institutions.
She says it has already raised $19 billion and an over-allotment of shares could make the flotation the world's biggest, but the shares have so far risen only slightly in Shanghai.
She says retail investors have bought AgBank shares as share owning is very popular in China, with many seeing it as a type of substitute for gambling, which is banned.
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PROPERTY TAX 'LESS DAMAGING' - A new report on Ireland from the IMF warns that an extra €3.5 billion is needed to meet its budget targets, again raising the question of whether a property tax is on its way. We have been told by the Government that it's out of the question for the next two budgets, but that it is under consideration thereafter.
IBEC economist Fergal O'Brien says spending cuts would be less damaging than tax increases, but broadening the tax base would be better than taxing labour and income.
He says a property tax would hit personal spending, but would be less damaging in the long-term and is not something we could postpone. Mr O'Brien says the second home tax has shown that there are interim measures that could be put in place to raise revenue.
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NEWS AND CURRENCIES - House builder Abbey says its housebuilding operations completed 535 sales this year (395 in the UK and 112 in Ireland and 28 in the Czech Republic) with a turnover of €86.6m.
It said there was a strong second half performance in the UK, but in recent weeks the market there had noticeably softened and further weakness could not be ruled out.
The euro is trading at $1.2720 and 83.35p sterling.
