Friday, September 20, 2024

The week ahead in business: ECB decision on interest rates, the latest construction data, and a CSO consumer update

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ECB president Christine Lagarde. Photo: Reuters

The governing council of the European Central Bank will meet on Thursday.

It is widely expected that the board will reduce interest rates by a further quarter of a percent following their first cut in June this year.

This was the first time it had lowered rates since 2019.

The BNP Paribas Real Estate construction purchasing managers index for August has been published on Monday.

This industry recorded the strongest increase in new business in almost two and a half years in July. Housing was the main source of any growth in activity.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) will publish an update on consumer prices in Ireland on Thursday.

Its Consumer Price Index was estimated to have risen by 2.2pc in the year to July and was unchanged from the prior month’s measure.

Divisions with the largest increases in the year to July were transport, with costs up 5.5pc, as well as restaurants and hotels. Prices in those locations rose 4.3pc across the year.

It will also share news on industrial production and turnover for July on Monday, as well the number of vehicles licensed for the first time in August tomorrow.

A report on household saving in the second quarter of this year will be shared on Thursday.

Households saved €8.1bn in the first three months of 2024 before adjusting for seasonality or inflation, the CSO reported earlier this year.

Eurostat, the EU’s statistics agency, will share an update on the EU labour market in the second quarter of the year on Friday. It will publish insights into job vacancies across the EU, as well as labour market flow in the period.

Hvivo will publish its half-year results tomorrow. The Irish-listed pharmaceutical services firm runs drug trials known as challenge studies from its London clinics.

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