A Deutsche Bank Research report published on Monday says a look back to the early 1990s shows that sovereign bond spreads versus German benchmark Bunds have remained below historic peaks for most economies. In particular, spreads of the Southern European economies (e.g. Italy, Spain, Greece and Portugal) are still far below their pre-Eurozone levels. On the other hand, spreads of Austria - - heavily exposed to Eastern Europe economies - - and Ireland - - in the aftermath of a sever property crash  - - recently exceeded or at least came very close to historic peaks. It asks what are the reasons behind these developments?

A report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) says recessions are an opportunity for companies to reassess strategy and trim unnecessary fat from their organisations. For information technology (IT) professionals, this means ensuring that all initiatives are clearly tied to a business goal and have metrics to track success - - especially as the economy begins to improve. However, this is easier said than done. Meanwhile, the findings of a survey by UK document management software company,Version One, has revealed that 41% of senior IT professionals admit that they “don’t know” what cloud computing is. Version One carried out the research with 60 senior IT professionals (IT directors and managers) across a range of UK public and private sector organisations. This research follows-on from a similar survey carried-out by Version One which highlights that two-thirds of UK senior finance professionals (finance directors and managers) are confused about cloud computing.

 The International Energy Agency, the energy watchdog of 28 developed countries including Ireland, on Monday, cut five-year forecasts for global crude demand because of the economic slump, forecasting consumption won’t regain 2008’s levels until 2012 or maybe after 2014 depending on the economic situation. The price of crude jumped above $73 in New York — just below 50% of the the all-time intra-day record of $147.27 in July 2008. Price of crude rises to 8-month high of $73 a barrel following an attack on a Shell Oil facility in Nigeria.

The World Bank says that while this year’s update of the research dataset Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) 1996-2008 shows many countries making progress in governance and anti-corruption over the past decade, it also reveals that many countries around the world failed to make such improvements.

 The CSO reported today that average weekly earnings in the Irish Public Sector (excluding Health) rose by 3.4% in the year to March 2009 from €941.01 to €973.04. This compares to a rise of 3.2% in the year to December 2008. Weekly earnings for the Defence Sector rose by 5.2% (from €788.18 to €828.79) and for the Regional Bodies by 4.4% (from €832.64 to €869.10). Average weekly earnings for A Garda Síochána, inclusive of overtime, fell by 4% from €1,226.16 to €1,177.54 per week. However, their weekly earnings excluding overtime rose by 1.9% from €1,054.34 to €1,074.04 for the same period. Employment rose 2,900 in year to March 2009 and jumped by 20,000 in  three years.

Markets news on stocks, currencies and oil.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) known as the bank for central banks, which was founded in Basel, Switzerland in 1930, today issued its 79th Annual Report, and said financial products should be treated like medicines and sold to consumers only when they are certified safe to prevent a repeat of global financial crisis. The BIS said government efforts to revive the global economy might have only a temporary impact because banks are not being pushed hard enough to fix their underlying problems.

The overall Irish KBC Ireland/ESRI Consumer Sentiment Index rose to 53.4 in June. This compares to a figure of 45.5 in May.

Markets news on stocks, currencies and commodities: European business and consumer confidence improved in June for the third month in a row from low levels, according to the latest EU survey.

Eurozone retail business conditions continued to deteriorate in June, with sales, employment, purchasing of stock and margins all falling compared with May. The Bloomberg Eurozone Retail Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), based on a mid-month survey of more than 1,000 executives in the Eurozone retail sector and providing data one month ahead of government-issued figures, rose from 47.1 to 47.5 in June. Remaining below 50.0, the seasonally adjusted index pointed to a month-on-month fall in sales for the thirteenth successive month. However, the rate of contraction eased slightly on May, and has recovered sharply from the record pace of decline seen last November. In fact, the average monthly decline over Q2 was the weakest since Q1 2008.