Interest rate worries hit stock market

HAVING shed close to €6 billion in the previous two days, the Irish stock market lost further ground yesterday as investors worried that rising interest rates would damage corporate earnings.

Some analysts say there is in fact an emerging consensus that the global economy is heading for a higher level of interest rates because of fears that inflation was becoming a global issue for Central Bankers.

That debate has been raging within the ECB with president Jean Claude Trichet and the German Bundesbank anxious that the rising level of money supply in Europe will result in sharp price rises in the coming 12 months.