Irish PLCs are revealing what their businesses looks like in a year when no new virus, variant or war raised its head to disrupt them. It would be very rosy were it not for the stubbornly high interest rates.
In late 2020, investors correctly forecast that Bank of Ireland would make lots of money in the following years. This Monday, it announced that growth in profits is slowing.
If you wanted to sell your business last year, you had to lower the price you were willing to accept. Here's the specifics of why company valuations fell.
To outcompete private companies, Reits need to be big and specialised but, in Europe's fractured markets, they can't grow and remain stuck between two stools. I-Res is the Irish illustration of this problem.
There is no reason for inflation to stop decreasing once it has hit the intended target. I think the major central banks may end up cutting rates sooner rather than later.
Monetary policy is normalising, leaving us facing both opportunities and challenges in 2024. Let's hope for more of the former and less of the latter.
Moody’s decision to put the US on a negative watch was fully warranted, reflecting political dysfunction on an epic scale. The lack of any cohesive plan to deal with the US debt trajectory makes it more likely that other rating agencies will follow suit.
Vehicles used by the US investment firm to purchase distressed Irish loans are reporting pressure from their own lenders and discounting the value of their portfolios, triggering various responses to the resulting profit squeeze.
What is new in the spike in prices that followed Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine? How are corporate profits feeding into it? And how does Europe escape an inflation spiral? Stephen Kinsella meets the ECB’s chief economist.
Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse had their own problems. But there is a possibility that the banking sector as a whole simply cannot handle high interest rates.
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