NCB Stockbrokers made four people redundant from its institutional equities desk yesterday.

A liquidator has today been appointed to undertake an orderly wind-down of Bloxham Stockbrokers.

THE vicissitudes of capitalism washed over my colleagues and I this week.

House prices are expected to fall by a further 15% this year, following on from last year’s near 13% drop.

At a time when considerable risks exist across the economy and for business in general, it is worth contemplating how successful companies thrive.

Data released this week by the Irish Aviation Authority underscores the challenges facing Irish airports and their role in our economic recovery.

Production levels from Ireland’s manufacturing industries are expected to remain subdued for the rest of the year, but economists are still upbeat about a medium-term pick-up, despite output hitting a two-year low.

Optimism amongst Irish services sector firms has dipped despite business activity enjoying a third consecutive month of growth in April.

Most weeks I turn on to Ship Street on approach to Cork and wonder what on earth is going on with the docks in the city.

CRH is understood to be unlikely to move for any of the UK assets that road surfaces company Tarmac is being instructed to sell, despite speculation to the contrary.

Have you been exposed to the great commodity swindle?

Arrabawn is predicting a milk price of 28cpl this year, a projection likely to see other co-ops rapidly follow its 1.95c March price cut to 32.5c per litre.

Ireland should generate another record annual trade surplus despite data showing a monthly decline.

Dairy co-ops could follow Arrabawn’s lead and cut their milk price in the near future, according to analysts at Bloxham Stockbrokers.

Production levels at Ireland’s manufacturing industries fell by 3.6% in February, after two consecutive months of increases.

Over the past 10 years, Ireland has engaged in a huge investment programme around our infrastructure.

Ireland generated a record high annual trade surplus of just under €44.7bn in 2011, up by 3% on 2010.

Consumer prices rose by 0.9% in February, representing the first monthly increase since last October.

Financial institutions lent €690m less to Irish consumers in January than in December, according to new figures from the Central Bank.

This week the probable future leader of China — vice president Xi Jinping — is visiting Ireland. This is, arguably, as important if not more than the visits of Queen Elizabeth II and President Obama in 2011.

An uncle of mine, a proud Corkman, served as a Catholic chaplin with the Grenadier Guards during the Second World War.

Ireland is the only peripheral economy in the eurozone expected to see growth this year, and it could see consumer spending grow in 2013 for the first time since 2007, a Reuters poll showed yesterday.

Irish banks reduced their dependance on ECB loans by over €1.1bn in December, according to the monthly credit statistics from the Central Bank.

One Saturday eveningrecently, I was hopping off the walls.

The NTMA’s successful bond swap this week will have done the country’s image no harm at a time when agency boss John Corrigan is helping Ireland claw its way back to a form of international market respectability, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

A SLIGHT drop in consumer prices, particularly mortgage costs and the price of food and clothing, pushed the annual rate of inflation down to 2.5% in December, the first time in four months that inflation slowed.

NOVEMBER saw a marked recovery in Ireland’s trade surplus, with a strong export performance pushing it up to €4.3 billion, its highest level ever.

THE Cork Jazz Festival is a long-standing music event that takes place during the October bank holiday weekend.

THE IDA is arguably the greatest unsung hero in the Irish economy.

FINANCE Minister Michael Noonan’s forecast for faster economic growth this year may prove too optimistic, according to a Bloomberg News survey.

IMAGINE the IMF occupation force sets a day for leaving Ireland.

Bloxham Stockbrokers has said the rate of unemployment is showing little sign of any improvement.

Two new reports are today forecasting a slowdown in Ireland's economic recovery next year.

IN the 1980s, while studying economics inuniversity, it was already apparent. The number cruncher geeks had taken control of economics.

THE annual rate of inflation crept up to 2.9% in November as consumer prices stayed largely flat during the month.

WEAKENING domestic demand and the threat of a European recession risk undermining Ireland’s hopes of meeting its medium-term fiscal goal under an EU-IMF bailout, a Reuters poll showed yesterday.

THE chief executive of the Dublin Airport Authority was recently appointed chief executive of London City Airport.

WHEN Michael Collins visited London he must have been impressed by the scale and sophistication of that city. After all, in that time the British Empire was at its zenith while Ireland was a poor offshoot that was a handy source of food and labourers for doing the roads.

CONSUMER prices rose by 0.3% last month, pushing the annual rate of inflation up to 2.8% in October.

IRELAND’S business leaders and key economists believe the economy will grow this year and next, but at a slightly slower pace than earlier forecasts.

LAST week an Irish aircraft leasing company, established just two years ago, managed to secure a $300 million (€219m) equity investment from the investment arm of the Singapore government.

FBD shareholders have unanimously voted in favour of the financial services group hiving off its non-core property and leisure division into a joint venture vehicle.

THE leaves are brown. The Battle of the Estimates is under way. Blood is flowing along the corridors at the heart of Government.

ECONOMISTS almost trebled forecasts for Ireland’s economic growth this year after a much better than expected second quarter but a fragile global outlook has tempered expectations for the following years.