Davy Research says that with property such a big component of Irish credit and the economy in recession, everything suggests that credit will start to shrink Irish PSC  (Private Sector Credit) growth continues to look respectable on a year-on-year (yoy) basis with growth in October running at 9%. However, focusing on yoy numbers misses the turning points; month-on-month (mom) trends are therefore much more important to us at this juncture.

Markets news on stocks, currencies and oil.

Irish Health Insurance: Vhi Healthcare today announced plans to hike health insurance premiums by 23% and Quinn Healthcare plans to raise rates by an average of 16%. Inflation in 2009 is likely to turn negative.

Average Irish national house prices fell by 0.8% in October according to the latest edition of thepermanent tsb / ESRI House Price Index. This follows reductions of 1.1% in September and 0.9% in August. In the first ten months of 2008 average national prices fell by 7.8%, compared with a drop of 7.0% in the year up to September 2008.  Measuring the rate of growth in the 12 months (year on year) to October, average national prices were down by 10.2%.  This compares to a decline of 4.7% recorded in the 12 months to October 2007.

The overall KBC Ireland/ESRI Irish Consumer Sentiment Index improved in November. The Consumer Sentiment Index was 44.8 in November 2008, compared with 42.0 in October 2008.

The Central Bank said today that the annual rate of growth of Irish  residential mortgages in October fell to a 22-year low. The rate of increase was 7.6 percent.

The Eurozone (EA15) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate stood at 7.7% in October 2008, compared with 7.6% in September. It was 7.3% in October 2007. The EU27 unemployment rate was 7.1% in October 2008, compared with 7.0% in September. It was 6.9% in October 2007. Employment was lowest in the Netherlands at 2.5% and highest in Spain at 12.8%. Ireland’s rate was 7.1%.

Eurozone annual inflation is expected to be 2.1% in November 2008 according to a flash estimate issued by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities. It was 3.2% in October.

Markets news on stocks, currencies and commodities.

UK research shows that males working as company directors and lawyers in south-east England are the least likely to die before they reach the state pension age.