Markets news on stocks, currencies and commodities.

US real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labour and property located in the United States — increased at an annual rate of 1.9 percent in the second quarter of 2008 (that is, from the first quarter to the second quarter), according to advance estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.  In the first quarter, real GDP increased 0.9 percent.

A firm that acted as a middle man in a popular real-estate-investment strategy has closed its doors, leaving investors scrambling to recover millions and pointing to flaws in the largely unregulated industry.

Freddie Mac will double the financial incentives it offers to mortgage servicers that help borrowers with Freddie-owned loans avoid foreclosure.

The CSO reported today that Irish public sector earnings increased 3.6% in the year to March and employment grew by 6,300.

The drought parching the Southeast has spawned a new solution among the wealthy who want to keep their lawns lush: Digging their own private wells that are discreetly hidden by shrubbery. The practice has enraged water conservationists and other less-well-heeled homeowners.

The housing bill signed by Bush will provide public funds to nonprofit groups that assist distressed homeowners. One of the biggest beneficiaries, despite Republican objections: Acorn, a housing advocacy group that also helps lead ambitious voter-registration efforts benefiting Democrats.

The Eurozone (EA15) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate stood at 7.3% in June 2008, unchanged compared with May. It was 7.4% in June 2007. The EU27 unemployment rate was 6.8% in June 2008, unchanged compared with May³. It was 7.1% in June 2007.

The Central Bank said today that the rate of increase in Irish residential mortgages dropped from a revised 10.9 per cent in May, to 10.2 per cent in June -the lowest since December 1991. The annual growth rate of Irish private-sector credit (PSC) fell to its lowest rate since June 2003, at 14.3 per cent, from 15.1 per cent in May. In aggregate, PSC increased by €2.6 billion in June.

Eurozone annual inflation is expected rise to 4.1% in July 2008 according to a flash estimate issued by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Union. It was 4.0% in June.