A pledge by the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, for a massive spending spree of all types of US debt failed to put the brake on the global stock market sell-off, suggesting that investors are looking for huge government spending programmes and not just market-calming initiatives by central banks.

European and US retailers — including Primark — have cancelled about $1.5bn (€1.4bn) of Bangladesh garment orders as the coronavirus outbreak roils demand.

US stocks fell tonight as New York State followed California in ordering non-key workers to stay at home and the UK caught up with the rest of Europe by ordering the closure of pubs and cafes to fight the deadly Covid-19 outbreak.

With so much uncertainty and no financial returns from its affiliated clubs, Motorsport Ireland remains confident it will get through the current difficulties.

Irish economic growth will grind to a halt and unemployment will creep above 5% this year under Italy-style quarantines to control the Covid-19 outbreak here, the Economic and Social Research Institute has projected in new forecasts.

Tomorrow, Ballyhea says no for the last time. The final protest march through the North Cork village is scheduled to begin around 10am, leaving time for its completion before second mass in the parish church.

The hazards and futility of trying to forecast the future have been highlighted in dramatic fashion by the escalation of the Coronavirus.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is cutting its global growth forecasts over the coronavirus outbreak.

The economic analysis of the potential impact of Covid 19 remains up in the air, combining the maths of infectious disease with speculation about the efficacy of health system responses.

The OECD has told world leaders they can’t sit back and let the coronavirus ravage their economies, warning that the world is in “its most precarious position since the global financial crisis”.

The Covid-19 outbreak may herald the end of the era when steadily rising international trade buttressed global peace, writes Jeffrey Frankel

The week ahead may be pivotal for investors and businesses monitoring the deadly coronavirus outbreak — including Irish companies whose supply chains stretch into China — as they scramble to understand whether the economic fallout will be long-lasting.

A global stock rally was stopped in its tracks after new concerns flared that the coronavirus could spread significantly beyond the locked-down cities at the epicentre of the outbreak in China.

The ‘permanent government’ is to blame for the huge overruns on public expenditure projects in Ireland. It is up to the elected government to reform it, says Sean Barrett

Pope Francis staged a surprise visit to admonish the IMF chief and several finance ministers to help alleviate the debt burden of struggling countries, calling for “a new financial architecture” to ensure social justice.

Labour leader Brendan Howlin, too, called for a progressive alliance of the left and has called for such parties to agree a “common agenda” if they are in government together.

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

When world output growth slips to the lower half of that range — as it did in 2019 — the risks of global recession need to be taken seriously, writes Stephen S Roach