Markets news on stocks, currencies and commodities.

The upward trend in the consumer confidence in Germany has continued in September. Economic and income expectations are increasing and the propensity to buy has once again improved, according to the Gfk monthly survey. The overall indicator is forecasting a value of 4.3 points for October 2009, following a revised value of 3.8 points in September.

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

G-20 Pittsburgh Summit: The Group of 20 leading developed and emerging nations, meeting in the former steel capital of the United States, are reported to be close to an agreement to improve global coordination of economic policies, a significant change to the world economy that would envision member countries monitoring each others’ commitments, according to G-20 officials. Restrictions on banker pay and financial regulation are also on the cards.

The Federal Reserve has announced the recession has ended but watch out. Washington’s inclination to bail out the biggest banks while letting their Main Street brethren languish may prove the steel arrow through the heart of the economic recovery.

US economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff say that the good news from their historical study of eight centuries of international financial crises is that, so far, they have all ended. In their new book, This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly, they say a failure to recognise the historical vulnerability of rich countries to financial crises lies behind the incredible conceit of Anglo-American policymakers that their gold-plated financial systems were invulnerable. Conceit and money are often two sides of the same coin.

Dublin’s Grafton Street has slipped to 8^th place from a top 5 position last year, in the latest ranking of the world’s most expensive retail streets in terms of rents. New York’s Fifth Avenue remains No. 1 and more than half of what are termed the world’s most prestigious shopping streets have been affected by the global economic downturn with 54% of the 274 streets monitored by real estate adviser Cushman & Wakefield, seeing their prime rents fall.

Markets news on stocks, currencies and oil; G-20 summit begins; INM calls EGM; AIB raises €1 billion; Shares down in Europe and US.

Annual Irish Manufacturing Prices were down 2.1% in August. Monthly factory gate prices decreased by 0.3% in August 2009. This compares to an increase of 2.2% recorded for August 2008. As a result, the annual percentage change showed a decrease of 2.1% in August 2009, compared with an annual increase of 0.3% in July 2009, according to the CSO today.

Sales of existing US homes unexpectedly fell in August for the first time in four months, signaling the housing recovery will be slow in a fragile economy.