Markets news on stocks, currencies and oil.

Countrywide’s pressures mounted as three states filed separate lawsuits. The company’s shareholders approved the sale to Bank of America. (Text of the California suit | Text of the Illinois suit)

A new report Regional Quality of Life in Ireland, published by the CSO today, examines variations in economic, social and environment performance at county and region level. In the 2006 Census, 15% of all accommodation was vacant. The Border (21.4%) and West (20.5%) regions, and counties Leitrim (29.3%) and Donegal (27%) had the highest rates. Counties along the west coast and Wexford had rates above 20%.

NTR, formerly National Toll Roads but now focused on renewable energy and waste management, said today its fiscal full-year profit surged 59-fold after it sold its wind-energy and toll-road divisions.

The CSO said today that trips to Ireland increased by just 0.8% for the first four months of 2008 compared to 4.4% for the same period in 2007.

US real GDP - - gross domestic product - -  the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States — increased at an annual rate of 1.0 percent in the first quarter of 2008 (that is, from the fourth quarter to the first quarter), according to final estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.  In the fourth quarter, real GDP increased 0.6 percent.

IDA Ireland the State inward investment promotion agency, said today that Ireland continues its transition into a leading 21st century innovation-led economy. The critical challenge faced by it is to secure investments that are innovation intensive, technologically advanced, having the maximum economic impact and the highest calibre of potential employment. The IDA said that since the beginning of the new millennium, Ireland’s offering to potential investors has been re-invented in recognition of the progress in our economic circumstances and the changed needs of the global marketplace.

e|net, the Irish owned company which holds the concession to operate Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) in 27 towns across Ireland, has been selected as preferred bidder by the Department of Communications, Energy & Natural Resources (DCENR) to manage the next phase of the MANs covering an additional 66 towns.

Irish insurance group FBD said today that volatility on financial markets and weakness in the UK commercial property market has affected its pre-tax profits in the first half of the year.

Markets news on stocks, currencies and commodities.