Senior stockbroker Conor O’Kelly will replace John Corrigan as head of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA).

Former Round the World race skipper and professional sailor Joe English has died, aged 58.

The fiscal deficit at the end of May was €5.3bn, which is a €1.2bn improvement on the same period in 2012, according to the latest figures released by the Department of Finance.

The Dublin-based stockbroking firm NCB has been renamed as Investec following its acquisition one year ago.

Competition from international firms will ensure that the Irish financial services sector consolidates even further, according to Brian Weber, head of the Irish operations for the international private client business, Quilter.

Ireland’s services sector expanded at its fastest rate in three months in April, aided by exports beyond the eurozone, a survey showed yesterday, in a boost for Irish growth prospects after weak manufacturing survey data.

Manufacturing output fell at its fastest pace for nearly four years last month, with employment levels in the manufacturing sector showing their sharpest decline since late 2011.

Ireland’s monthly seasonally-adjusted trade surplus rose by nearly 8% in February, bucking a trend of two successive monthly declines.

Irish manufacturing contracted for the first time in over a year last month, and the eurozone’s problems led to the sharpest contraction in new export orders since Aug 2009, a survey showed yesterday.

Ireland’s seasonally adjusted trade surplus slipped for the second consecutive month in January, with preliminary figures from the CSO showing a 5% fall to €2.9bn.

Fyffes has generated revenues of over €1bn for the first time in six years.

Growth in the country’s manufacturing activity recovered from a nine-month low in February, extending the expansion in the sector to 12 months even as most of the eurozone continues to contract, a survey showed yesterday.

Marketing, distribution, and business support services group DCC is considering changing its primary listing from Dublin’s Iseq to the London-based FTSE as the profile of its business and investors change.

The private sector recorded its fastest growth since the heady days of the boom, according to NCB’s Purchasing Managers’ Index.

The country’s manufacturing sector showed its slowest rate of growth for nine months in January, according to new data.

The Government will be disappointed with the release of the retail sales figures for December, which came in much lower than expected.

There is further evidence that the property market is stabilising, according to data compiled by the Property Services Regulatory Authority which show a very strong finish to 2012 for residential property transactions in Ireland.

A senior economist has questioned the credibility of the Central Statistics Office’s house price statistics, and said the decline in house values is much higher than the CSO estimates.

The state of the economy and, in particular, unemployment, combined with changes to the Basel III capital requirements, will determine whether Irish banks will need to be further recapitalised.

The yield on the syndicated tap bond issue on Tuesday was below the rate secured when Ireland had a AAA credit rating, but the spread against the 10-year German bund remains a concern, according to NTMA chief executive John Corrigan.

Retail sales fell unexpectedly in November compared with the previous month and year-on-year, according to figures released by the Central Statistic Office.

The services sector recorded its fifth successive month of growth in December, driven by the best monthly performance for new exports in over six years.

Global markets surged yesterday following the announcement that the White House and the US Congress had temporarily resolved the “fiscal cliff” that threatened to plunge the world’s largest economy back into recession.

Ireland’s prospects of meeting the EU/IMF bailout targets in 2013 and making a full return to the markets received a boost with the latest growth figures from the Central Statistics Office.

Irish exports continue to the be the star of the economy rising by 2% according to seasonally adjusted figures released by the CSO, but the domestic economy is “stagnant”.

Inflation fell by 0.4% over the month of November, although prices have risen by 0.8% on year-ago levels.

Cantor Fitzgerald has been considering a stockbroking acquisition here since 2010 and now, having bought Dolmen Securities, the US firm has ambitious plans to jump start the corporate bond market in Ireland, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

The services sector has had another good month with the business activity index remaining at the same five-year high level recorded last month, according to the NCB Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI).

Conditions in the manufacturing sector improved for the ninth month in a row with an increase in employment and new orders during November, according to the NCB Purchasing Managers’ Index.

The US brokerage firm Cantor Fitzgerald has taken over the Dublin-based stockbroking firm Dolmen for an undisclosed fee.

Retail sales grew for the fourth consecutive month in October and at a better- than-expected rate. However, next week’s budget is still expected to curb growth.

The positive newsflow around the Irish sovereign has helped bond yields trade well below Spanish debt, even though Ireland is in an EU/IMF bailout programme.

October marked the second consecutive month in which the annual rate of inflation eased, but it is still expected to be only a temporary respite for households as rises in energy and mortgage interest costs are set to push up the inflation rate.

Business activity among services companies has seen its sharpest October rise in five years, according to the latest NCB Services Index.

The Government’s tax take was down significantly in October, although it was ahead of schedule for the first 10 months of the year.

The number of merger and acquisition (M&A) deals increased by 10% in the first nine months of 2012 but the value of the deals completed fell, the NCB Corporate Finance M&A Tracker Survey found.

Manufacturing production in Ireland is still expected to grow by between 2% and 3% this year, despite figures showing a marginal decline in August — the first fall in six months.

Ireland’s manufacturing sector has continued its recovery, with September representing the fifth consecutive monthly increase in production levels and business conditions.

The ECB’s decision to suspend the minimum credit rating threshold for collateral eligibility in return for cheap funds could be damaging over the longer term if Irish banks sit on toxic assets rather than recognise losses.

The ECB decision to make unlimited purchases of three-year bonds for stressed eurozone member states is being hailed as a game changer, although it does not guarantee the euro will survive.

The services sector grew for the first time in four months in August, a survey showed yesterday, as a rise in new business at home and abroad helped shelter Ireland somewhat from a slump in the rest of the eurozone.

Fruit importer Fyffes is on track for a bumper year after recording a 30% increase in profits for the first half of the year.

The economy is showing further signs of stabilisation with manufacturing output continuing its positive momentum.

A proposal to spin off the company’s domestic dairy operation is likely to get the green light, which should facilitate the expansion of the processing sector in Ireland in advance of EU milk quota abolition in 2015, reports Kyran Fitzgerald