PLANET BUSINESS: In the first of an occasional series devoted to the fabled "green shoots of recovery", we note that crude oil prices have reached an 18-month high.
At $86 a barrel on Tuesday, oil is still a long way off its summer 2008 peak, but its continued ascent is likely. This will mean more petrol pump pain, but the apparent trigger – a resurgence in the US economy – could bring a less punishing trading environment for Irish exporters. Unless, of course, it transpires that the rising price of black gold is really a function of those finite supply issues no one in the oil industry likes talking about - in that case, not even the prospect of Providence striking it lucky off the east coast of Ireland will help us.
THE QUESTION: Are entrepreneurs and the financial sector incompatible?
"I don't know whether it just gets down to entrepreneurial and financial companies not mixing," an insurance expert told The Irish Timesin the aftermath of the Quinn debacle. But is this really the case? It might depend on the definition of "entrepreneur". Ask an Irish business student to describe an entrepreneur and they will say "someone who takes risks". This used to mean they took risks with their own money, then the credit bubble arrived and "entrepreneurs" found a way to take risks with other people's money while keeping their personal assets ring-fenced. It's pretty clear now that describing yourself as a "risk- taker" isn't going to win you that banking licence.
Throughout history, banks have been set up by “old money” families with ready-made reserves and states keen on centralising the flow of money. However the financial sector has always held a certain allure for self-starters: after a failed attempt to buy Northern Rock, Britain’s most famous serial entrepreneur, Richard Branson (above), on Tuesday announced a bid to buy hundreds of Royal Bank of Scotland branches – although why Branson wastes time on Virgin Money when he’s got Virgin Galactic to play with is not immediately obvious.
Another tale of entrepreneurialism was relayed in this week's New York Timesobituary of a 97-year-old US banker called John G McCoy. Between 1958 and 1983, McCoy developed Banc One from a local Ohio outfit into a national powerhouse. While he was an early adopter of innovations like ATMs, there was one key area where he remained conservative. McCoy used to say he'd rather make a thousand loans for $1,000 than one loan for $1 million, "because no matter how good you are, you are always going to have one loan go bad". Ireland's indebted entrepreneurs and failed bankers must be sighing. If only it was just the one . . .
Nama-watch
The transfer window to the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) is well and truly open – let the asset sales commence. But while flogging off their “jewels” might be straightforward, issues remain in relation to assets of more ambiguous appeal. AIB holds close to a 25 per cent stake in the US bank M&T: finding a single buyer may prove tricky, which means the shares will be placed on the open market.
This could drag the M&T price down, although some reports suggest short-sellers may contain the downside by buying the stock to lock in gains. Meanwhile, Bank of Ireland has admitted that running down its UK mortgage intermediary business is a slow burn: customers are sticking on its books because deteriorating competition in the market means there are no good switching deals available. Sound familiar?
STATUS UPDATE Bumper sales:Toyota has seen a dramatic sales increase in the US and Japan thanks to post-recall discounts – and not because it turns out drivers actually like faulty accelerators.
Word wise:Games giant Mattel is to ruin – sorry, change – the rules of Scrabble to allow proper nouns (so you can play "Zen" after all).
Election fever:The economy is set to be a crucial issue in the British general election. It's the "road to ruin" vs "the path to prosperity", depending on which side of the cuts/stimulus debate you're on.
"We'll be very happy if they just publish our headline or a sentence or two and that's followed by a subscription form"
– Rupert Murdochdeclares war on Google, Microsoft and anyone else who takes stories from his newspapers"for nothing".
300,000
The number of iPads sold on the US launch date of Easter Saturday, prompting Apple chief Steve Jobs to state that the tablet device is “going to be a game-changer”.
