The cost for the Irish State for any long-term borrowing is fast approaching zero as markets reacted to the nomination of Christine Lagarde to head up the ECB.

The US Federal Reserve has held interest rates steady but signalled possible rate cuts of as much as half a percentage point over the remainder of this year, as it responded to increased economic uncertainty and a drop in expected inflation.

Monetary easing has come very much back on to central bank radars.

The visit of US President Donald Trump to Shannon last week may have improved his chances of re-election next year, as he and his sons made the most of the welcome in Doonbeg to flaunt the Irish connection and appeal to the 30 million Irish-Americans back home.

This is a man’s world. The airside tarmac, as Air Force One touched down in Shannon, was dotted in men

US stocks rose yesterday , led by a rebound in the technology sector, as Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said the central bank would act as appropriate”to trade war risks, leaving the door open for a possible rate cut.

Stocks around the world tumbled and oil prices slumped after US President Donald Trump threatened to raise tariffs on China, triggering an investor exodus from risky assets.

The ultimate owner of Aughinish Alumina in Limerick has said significant investment is planned for the facility, just months after US Government sanctions threatened the future of its 450-plus jobs.

US president Donald Trump intervened to help safeguard hundreds of jobs in the Limerick region after the impact of sanctions against Russia threatened to damage the Aughinish Alumina plant.

The world presumed the US president was a pawn in his Russian counterpart’s game. It could prove to be the other way around, writes Nina L Khrushcheva.

Belfast bantamweight Ryan Burnett admitted he’s gutted after losing his WBA title on a fourth-round retirement in Glasgow on Saturday night.

The directors of the firm which operates the Aughinish Alumina refinery said as recently as mid-September they expected a solution to be reached with the US Treasury over sanctions imposed on the Limerick company’s parent.

Russian firm, Rusal, which owns Aughinish Alumina in Limerick, will be avoided by customers when the industry meets in Berlin next week to seal 2019 metal-supply agreements, industry sources predict.

The US Treasury has extended the deadline to investors to divest interests in the Russian firm that owns Aughinish Alumina, in Limerick, but has not removed it from its sanctions list.

The Government cannot become complacent about the risk to more than 650 jobs at Aughinish Alumina in Limerick even though fears are easing about the Trump Administration’s targeting of its Russian owner Rusal.

The market has been very unenthusiastic about the dollar in recent months, with traders anticipating that the currency’s decline in 2017 and in the opening weeks of 2018 would be sustained throughout this year, writes Oliver Mangan.

A prediction by the French finance minister that the EU plan to tax revenues of tech companies in Europe will be set at a rate “closer to 2% than 6%” will boost the chances of the proposal being adopted in the face of Irish opposition, a leading Irish tax expert has said.

The United States Treasury Department has issued sanctions against two officials it describes as "key leaders of North Korea's unlawful weapons programs".

The Republican tax bill unveiled last week in the US Congress could disrupt the global supply chains of large, multinational companies by slapping a 20% tax on cross-border transactions they routinely make between related business units.

The Trump administration needs to deliver on a number of its campaign promises if the rally in the US stockmarkets — which, in turn, can boost European markets, including the Iseq — is to last. This month marks the 10th anniversary of the beginning of the global financial crisis that set off the Great Recession.

US President Donald Trump’s warning to North Korea and Pyongyang’s threat of possible armed retaliation drove investors out of stocks and other risky assets and into textbook safe havens like gold and US debt paper.

The dollar index touched its lowest point since early November, hurt by weaker than expected US housing data and concerns after political turmoil once more hit Washington.

An EU probe into McDonald’s is entering its final stages after officials gathered information on whether the Big Mac maker unfairly benefited from a hefty tax break in Luxembourg, according to sources.

THE head of the European Central Bank (ECB) has expressed concern about the Trump administration’s moves to relax financial oversight, saying such deregulation helped pave the way for the global financial crisis.

As widely anticipated, last week’s meeting of the US Federal Reserve saw the central bank increase the target range for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to between 0.5% and 0.75%.

Banks took the biggest losses amid a slump in US stocks as investors worried about the financial health of Germany's Deutsche Bank.

James Stewart looks at the US position on Apple tax and why an appeal of the ruling is a mistake

THE €13bn question most people are asking today is why the Irish Government is not keeping that huge sum following yesterday’s declaration by the European Commission that Apple, the richest company in history, owes Ireland that amount in unpaid and allegedly illegal tax benefits from a sweetheart deal between the State and the tech conglomerate.

We answer some questions on the Apple tax situation...

Apple has been ordered to pay back €13bn over its tax deal with the Republic of Ireland.

An appeal of the Apple tax deal ruling would see Ireland facing down the commission on behalf of a US corporate giant, writes Eamon Quinn, Business Editor

The US government has launched an unprecedented assault on the EU, saying that tax probes by Brussels involving the affairs of American companies threaten to undermine the global tax system.

US stocks jumped to record highs on Friday after a strong jobs report for the month of July gave investors more confidence that the economy is still growing.

Pfizer has agreed to buy Anacor Pharmaceuticals for $5.2bn (€4.6bn), gaining control of an experimental treatment for eczema in its first deal since walking away from a $160bn takeover of botox maker Allergan.

Stocks indexes ended little changed on Wall Street as more worries about China pulled down prices for oil.

Pfizer, which last month abandoned its $160 billion (€140bn) quest for Allergan — a deal which was controversially driven by a so-called tax inversion based on Ireland’s low tax regime — reported quarterly results that blew past analyst estimates.

Escalating a 19-month regulatory assault against US companies’ shifting their tax addresses offshore, President Barack Obama’s administration last week also went after companies that have always been overseas.

Pfizer will need to reduce the cost of producing some of its core products by up to 20% and stay extremely focused on competitiveness in the coming years, according to the head of its Cork operations.

Tax inversions like that announced by Tyco and Johnson Controls in January will always attract criticism but also serve to focus attention on the US tax system, according to Tyco’s chief executive.