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

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.

As the great and the good congregate in Davos this week, the mood is somewhat more sombre than we have seen for some time.

This year’s World Economic Forum, in Davos, kicks off against a backdrop of growing pessimism — with the IMF saying global growth appears to have bottomed out with no rebound in sight; and CEO confidence in the world’s economy hitting a record low.

The politically sensitive costs of rents, mortgage interest costs, and health insurance have risen faster than the prices of many other goods and services, official figures show.

Will it all end in tears, just like Samcro?

It has been a busy year filled for the most part with uncertainty.

India and China are in the grips of economic slowdown but it brings a lesson that they must learn, write Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo.

Putting aside angels-on-a-pinhead arguments about the actual year in which a decade expires and a new one commences — is it January 1, 2020, or 12 months on in 2021 and, anyway, who really cares? — what we hope will be the peace and quiet of St Stephen’s Day brings an opportunity to reflect not only on the country’s 2019 but also on aspects of the Dáil’s less-than-adequate performance since 2010.

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

Stopping Facebook’s Libra in its tracks was a god thing, but authorities should now do something useful and visionary with the cryptocurrency, writes Yanis Varoufakis.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe will stress the need to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland when he meets key White House officials.

It said that “actions and commitments to date have fallen short”, warning “the longer we wait, the greater the loss of life and damage to the world economy”.

The Tax Institute of Ireland has welcomed support offered to Irish businesses and agrees with the Finance Minister's decision to direct resources to sectors most vulnerable to risk of no-deal Brexit.

The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), in its latest update on the world economy, said the prospects for global growth have become increasingly fragile and uncertain.

Depositors and investors will, by now, realise that the zero interest rate policy being pursued by the European Central Bank (ECB) is having a disastrous effect on pensions, savings and investments.

We have a reliable end-of-year choreography. The Rose of Tralee knees-up warns winter cannot be far away; September brings All-Ireland finals and their fevered speculations.