HenryTo Site Admin


Joined: 06 Aug 2004 Posts: 11736 Location: Los Angeles, California
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Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 9:55 am Post subject: Irish Stocks Continue to Underperform |
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Down 9.9% for the year and the worst performing market in the 13-country Euro Zone:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601084&sid=aEeoHfOx2tkQ&refer=stocks
| Quote: | The construction industry accounts for a fifth of Ireland's economy and employs about 13 percent of its workforce, more than twice the European average, according to the European Union's statistics office, Eurostat.
A higher-than-average proportion of Irish homeowners also have variable-rate mortgages, European Mortgage Federation figures show, increasing the country's vulnerability to changes in borrowing costs.
The ECB's key rate has doubled since late 2005 to 4 percent after eight increases. It may go up at least once more this year to help quell inflation, futures trading shows. Council member Nicholas Garganas said in an interview published July 17 that borrowing costs will need to rise further because economic growth is stronger than anticipated by the central bank, which holds its next meeting by teleconference on Aug. 2. |
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