Average Irish national house prices fell by 1.9% in April according to the latest edition of the permanent tsb / ESRI House Price Index.  This compares to reductions in March (-1.0%), February (-0.8%) and January 2009 (-1.4%).  Measuring the rate of growth in the 12 months (year on year) to April, national prices were down by 10.7%.  This compares to a decline of 10.0% recorded in the 12 months to March 2009.  In the first four months of 2009 national house prices have fallen by 4.9% which compares to a reduction of 3.3% in the same period in 2008.

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Japan’s exports rose in month of April and the economy achieved a surprise trade surplus, after a first quarter when the contraction was the worst in decades.

Money is flooding into Hong Kong, propelling property and stock prices even as the economy falters.

Principal news stories from the Irish Independent, Irish Times, Irish Examiner, Financial Times and New York Times.

Eircom, the former Irish State telco, today announced its results for the third quarter and 9-month financial period ended 31 March 2009. and reported Group EBITDA, before non-cash pension credit and net construction income, was €173 million, down €2 million on the corresponding quarter of the prior year. Group revenue was €488 million, down 5% for the quarter. A quarterly profit of €69 million was achieved and a loss of  €506 million, was incurred in the 9 months, due to a writedown in goodwill earlier in the financial year.

US Economy: The recession has some time to run according to Professor Peter Morici of the University of Maryland on Tuesday. Bloomberg said Americans may have to get used to unemployment greater than 8 percent for the first time since 1983 and an economy that won’t grow much beyond 2 percent as a consequence of the lost confidence in consumer credit that shattered financial markets.

The failure of suppliers’ businesses is the number one concern for manufacturers when it comes to the resilience of their supply chains, ahead of reduced access to capital, protectionism fears and cost volatility, reflecting the sector’s heightened fear of corporate defaults. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of manufacturers surveyed say the collapse of suppliers would have an immediate impact on their business. This is one of the key findings of a new research report, Manufacturing confidence, from the Economist Intelligence Unit.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, that the US Justice Department is increasing its prosecutions of alleged acts of foreign bribery by US corporations, forcing them to take costly steps to defend against scrutiny. Meanwhile, actor Kevin Spacey, is preparing to play former Republican Party lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is in jail for corruption, in a film to be titled Casino Jack. What recently struck me when watching Spacey on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, recounting a meeting with Abramoff, that to be declared legally corrupt in America, a person must be a cocktail of arrogance, stupidity and greed, given the vast opportunities for legal corruption in a system, where bribery has been almost defined out of existence. Ireland’s Jack Abramoff, Frank Dunlop, faced the music on Tuesday but Irish national politicians should be more ashamed than him, as they have done absolutely ZERO to change the Irish land rezoning system, which spawned extensive corruption.

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