US orders for durable goods - - defined as those expected to last at least three years  - - rose during September, the fourth increase in six months, while a key measure of capital goods spending -  - items meant to last 10 years or longer - - rose strongly at 3.7%  - - a positive sign of recovery in US manufacturing.

Markets news on stocks, currencies and commodities: AIB is off 21% and BoI is down 19% in Dublin on worries about European Commission moves, which has to approve the Irish “bad bank” NAMA.

The Taoiseach Brian Cowen signalled again on Tuesday that the planned €4 billion fiscal adjustment in the December Budget will be implemented with or without agreement from the social partners. However, a fudge is still likely on reform in place of pay cuts.

In the Great Recession so far, the Eurozone labour market has held up much better than its US counterpart.  While the US unemployment rate has risen by more than 5 percentage points (pp) in the course of the recession to 9.8% of the labour force, according to the latest data point, its Eurozone counterpart has only increased by about 2pp, albeit reaching roughly the same level at 9.7% in Q3.  This discrepancy is even more striking as Eurozone output contracted much more sharply than in the US, where the output reduction from the peak was about one-third bigger.

Americans are growing increasingly gloomy about the economy after a mild upswing of attitudes in September. However, Republicans haven’t been able to profit politically from the economic gloom, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.

As the global housing market shows some signs of recovery, markets are re-emerging at different speeds, depending on the strength of individual real estate fundamentals. Moreover, industries that rely on the housing market have adjusted to lower demand and will likely stay cautious until they see clear signs of a rebound, says Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services in a special report on the global housing market. A separate report shows that one in every 136 households with a loan got a foreclosure notice in Q3, the third quarter.

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

European countries are lagging on fibre-based broadband networks, even though modern communications networks are a key factor in the competition for investment at regional and international level. According to OECD estimates, by 2011 broadband communication will generate one-third of the productivity gains made by highly developed nations.

A trade group for the mortgage industry has proved itself a poor judge of the commercial real-estate market.

More than 25 years ago, when the U.S. commercial real-estate began to emerge from its last collapse, Germans snapped up properties at discount prices. History may be repeating.