Subscriber OnlyBusiness Today Newsletter

ECB mulls a September hike; DAA’s company car; and Elon’s latest ‘comic book’ move

Business Today: the best news, analysis and comment from The Irish Times business desk

The European Central Bank in Frankfurt. The spotlight today will be on signals the bank might offer on its next move on interest rates. Photograph: Ronald Wittek/EPA

Úna McCaffrey's face
Úna McCaffrey
Thu Jul 27 2023 - 06:30

The European Central Bank (ECB) will keep the door open for another rate increase in September, after pushing through a widely-flagged hike on Thursday that will push up borrowing costs for households and businesses, according to analysts. Peter Flanagan and Joe Brennan have more on this, while Cliff Taylor identifies the borrowers who will be hardest hit by Thursday’s decision and in the future.

Government rules dictated that State airports company DAA provide former chief executive Dalton Philips with the company car that has sparked a political row, writes Barry O’Halloran. When DAA appointed Mr Philips in 2017, it was stipulated that he “have use of a car provided by the company” rather than a car allowance.

Penneys has reported a more than 20-fold increase in profits for the latest financial year, reports Ellen O’Regan. The retailer’s latest accounts also show it is paying €475 million in dividends to its shareholders, including the Weston family who previously owned Brown Thomas.

Elon Musk’s plan to turn Twitter into X does not sit well with Karlin Lillington, who reckons he is “slow clapping TwitterX into meaninglessness, if not oblivion”. She argues that fleeing to other commercial platforms won’t help either, with you and your data always going to remain the product.

READ MORE

Over at Meta meanwhile, group revenues for the third quarter are forecast to come in ahead of analysts’ expectations. The company behind Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp is flagging higher ad spending on signs of an improving economic backdrop.

We also take a look at why Mark Zuckerberg’s creation is shunning news by giving less priority to current affairs and refusing to engage with governments who want media organisations to be paid for their work.

Chris Horn looks inside China this week, discovering high levels of innovation as Chinese technology companies seek to deal with US sanctions. “Chiplets” are where it’s at, he writes.

And still in our Innovation section, Olive Keogh profiles Neuronic, a new company focusing on light therapy that it says can increase blood flow, reduce inflammation and help alleviate symptoms associated with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. The goal, says its founder, is to keep brain capacity high in all stages of life.

If you’re in the market for a new sports tracker watch, Ciara O’Brien says Garmin’s models are among the best. She has reviewed the Fenix 7 Pro, which comes with the hefty starting price tag of €850.

Ciara also takes a close look at the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5, the company’s newest folding handset. She reckons the phone brings some positive changes but wonders if they are sufficient to make it stand out.

Stay up to date with all our business news: sign up to our Business Today daily email news digest. If you’d like to read more about the issues that affect your finances try signing up to On the Money, the weekly newsletter from our personal finance team, which will be issued every Friday to Irish Times subscribers.