US consumer spending tumbled 0.5 percent in September for the first time in five months, with the end of the “cash for clunkers” car rebate program while incomes remained flat, raising concerns about teh fragility of the recovery in the absence of continued government help. The savings rate was 3.3 percent compared with 16.5% in the Eurozone, in June 2009.

Irish average national house prices are down 11.1% in first nine months of 2009 and prices are back to Christmas 2003 levels, according to data published today.

The city’s unemployment rate is 29%, but gaming revenue at its three casinos has been off only 2% from a year ago so far this year. Atlantic City’s gaming revenue has fallen 14%, and the Las Vegas Strip is down 14%.

Markets news on stocks, currencies and commodities: Capital values in the Irish commercial property market continued their fall in Q309 according to the IPD Irish Quarterly Index, with values now 53% down from the Q4 2007 peak (-57% from the peak for retail, -50.5% for offices and -43% for industrial). Meanwhile, AIB Bank said today that it has approved 42,000 loans and overdrafts totaling €1.85 billion for Irish SMEs so far this year

The Irish central bank reported today that Irish residential mortgage lending fell again in September 2009 and total outstanding private sector credit (PSC) also declined. Gross new spending on personal credit cards was down 15% compared with a year before.

The Eurozone (EA16) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 9.7% in September 2009, compared with 9.6% in August. It was 7.7% in September 2008. The lowest rates was 3.6% in the Netherlands; highest in Latvia at 19.7% and Ireland was at 13%.

Eurozone (EA16) annual inflation is expected to be -0.1% in October 2009 according to a flash estimate issued by Eurostat, the EU statistics office. It was -0.3% in September. The Eurozone savings rate was 16.5% in Q2 2009 compared with US rate of 4.9%.

Environment Minister John Gormley said on Thursday that “a type of civil war” existed between workers in the Irish public and private sectors. The CSO also reported on Thursday that 106 people took their lives during the first three months of this year, compared to 74 during the same period last year  - - a 43% increase.

Irish Economy: IBEC, the business group, today published revised economic forecasts for 2010 and 2011. With a global recovery underway, the employers’ union says in its quarterly economic review, that economic output will fall by 1.6% next year, with the economy emerging from recession. It predicts growth of 1.7% in 2011.

After being hit hard by the global economic slump, Asia is now rebounding fast, according to the IMF in its Regional Economic Outlook for the Asia and Pacific Region.