Confusing Headlines in the Press for would be Investors

Hello and welcome to the Someplace Else Blog.

A very pleasant surprise for me last week was a beaming headline from our friends at the Irish Times in the Wednesday edition (14 May). I could scarcely believe it – “3.75% yearly growth predicted in positive view of the economy” ran the headline based on the latest predictions from the ESRI, our highly respected Economic and Social Research Institute (who have a terrific website by the way – www.esri.ie). The article also went onto say that “the economy is heading toward a bright future” and discussed how we will outperform most of our European cousins for years to come due to our resilient economy and productive and diversified workforce.

Last Wednesday The Irish Independent also claimed that the economy was “on the way back” and our colleagues down south in the Examiner were happy to report “resilient economic growth over the next decade”

All in all, a very far cry from the headlines commented on just 8 weeks ago in Issue 7. The two main headlines that week in the Irish Times and Irish Independent were “Economy Set to grow at slowest rate for two decades” and “Growth to Plummet as Economy Slows” respectively.

Those who have been holding back on investing because of the negatively in the press recently can rightly feel a bit confused by the sudden change. However, the reason I’m writing all this has nothing to do with our national newspapers, most of which, including The Irish Times and Irish Independent, are excellent publications. It is more to stress the importance of using a variety of independent research sources before making a major investment decision.

Our own website has a small research centre that may be of use to some, which can be visited by clicking here. It is due for a comprehensive update in the next ten days, so might be worth bookmarking and returning to it from time to time.

Best Regards

Colin Murphy
Director
www.someplaceelse.ie