Maria Walsh in conversation with Hilary Fennell

The music company of singer-songwriter Damien Rice has reported a cash pile of almost €500,000, in accounts just filed to the Companies Registration Office.

Parents who gave their child a Kidizoom smartwatch or a VTech InnoTab tablet may have exposed them to identity theft after Hong Kong-based VTech said hackers stole the personal information of more than 6m children.

George Moore believes it was a case of “swings and roundabouts” after Macorville’s narrow defeat in the John Smith’s Northumberland Plate.

Stocks rebounded moderately in New York today as a stronger than expected retail sales report showed that higher oil prices are not scaring consumers off spending.

British banking group Barclays today took the first steps towards establishing its Barclaycard operation in the United States credit card market.

Investors left stocks in limbo today, making few commitments while they awaited Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan’s testimony before Congress later this week.

Juniper Networks is to buy network security appliance specialist NetScreen Technologies in a deal worth $4bn (€3.15bn).

Juniper Networks and telecom equipment maker Lucent have announced a partnership.

`Technology shares were higher midsession as encouraging reports on the health of the economy prompted investors to snap up Nasdaq stocks, dealers said.

Bargain hunting in technology lifted the US stock market moderately higher yesterday.

An earnings and revenue warning from Juniper Networks helped send US technology stocks sharply lower today, as Wall Street worried that the recent rally might have been premature.

Blue chips ended the day near session lows, as a profits warning from US networking firm Juniper Networks and the state of emergency in Argentina impacted sentiment on both sides of the Atlantic, dealers said.