Sterling plunged 5% to its lowest level against the dollar in over three decades and was trading at Brexit crisis levels of 93.4 pence against the euro as the shocks caused by the coronavirus rippled through global markets.

The CSO last Friday published the first estimate for growth in the Irish economy last year and there were no surprises.

Irish business and trade union leaders said they stand ready to work with government in a national effort to face down the Covid-19 crisis, but warn that they need more help to prevent firms from going under.

Europe began a new campaign to shield economies from the coronavirus as the region’s two main central banks either delivered or signaled action to avoid a 2008-style crisis, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel promised to do “whatever is necessary”.

Britain unveiled a £30bn (€34bn) economic stimulus plan to tackle the risk of a coronavirus recession, just hours after the Bank of England slashed interest rates in a double-barrelled response to the crisis.

British inflation unexpectedly rose to a six-month high in January, pushed up by higher petrol prices and a smaller-than-usual drop in airfares.

The number of people in work in Britain jumped again at the end of last year, underscoring how the labour market defied the broader economic slowdown in the run-up to December’s UK election.

A jump in the pound a minute before the Bank of England said it would keep interest rates on hold led some in the market to ask whether any participants knew of the decision before it became public.

The price of oil slumped and European share prices were hammered yesterday as fears over the spread of the coronavirus quickened.

Last year, monetary policy returned to an easing mode, in response to a marked slowdown in global growth, and the IMF estimates that the monetary easing added 0.5% to world growth in 2019.

Cork City Council is to impose vacant site fines to try to stimulate building. Fines will be levied at 7% of site value as the ceiling was more than doubled by Government last year.

The risk of a UK interest-rate cut as early as next week seems no impediment to a stronger pound.

The two main US stock indices — the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones — traded at new record highs as President Donald Trump hailed completing ‘phase 1’ of a trade deal between the US and China as “a momentous step”.

The notification that Irish banks were not ready for some new features of the EU Payment Service Directive came from the Central Bank in mid-December when there was clear evidence the new security procedures entailed by the directive were not going to be met anytime soon.

A ruling by the Dutch Supreme Court - that the country must press ahead with significant cuts in carbon emissions - could prove a breakthrough for climate activists, writes Kyran Fitzgerald.

What links these places: Bonn, Buenos Aires, Marrakech, New Delhi, Kyoto, Montreal, Bali, Doha, Cancún, Paris, Katowice and Madrid?

A quiet climate action revolution is taking place as fund managers question their investments in firms not dealing with their emissions, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

Over the autumn, stock markets rallied strongly, bond yields rose, and traders scaled back their expectations of further policy easing by central banks.