The shopping day known as Black Friday will attract more than one third of Irish consumers, with around a quarter of them using the occasion to buy up to half of their Christmas gifts.

A home renovation scheme described as a “boon for the construction industry” should serve as inspiration for the Government to introduce a bigger stimulus to generate house building, an industry leader has said.

Consumer spending showing signs of modest growth amid rapid increases in spending on “big ticket” items such as houses and cars.

The total number of corporate insolvencies has increased slightly compared to last year.

CONSUMER markets remained very weak in quarter two of 2009 but pub sales fared better than most, a new report has found.