Irish Life & Permanent saw a 10.89% decline in its market value over the week, which ended with the departure of a senior executive and a raft of appointments. Construction shares also suffered, with McInerney and CRH both dropping more than 7%. Gainers included TVC Holdings, which rose 11%.

European stocks declined last week after UBS, the region's biggest bank, posted its first quarterly loss in almost five years and Credit Suisse reported its first profit drop in a year. Fortis sank after UBS advised investors to sell the shares.

The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index lost 1%. The measure has dropped 5.1% since reaching a 6 1/2-year high 1 June on concern defaults among US borrowers with the poorest credit profiles will hurt the rest of the economy.

The Federal Reserve last week cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter-point to 4.5% and signaled its reluctant to lower borrowing costs further.

Employment in the US rose more than forecast in October, suggesting a resilient labor market will steer the economy clear of recession even as the housing slump deepens, according to a report. Hourly wages rose less than economists' estimates.

National benchmarks slipped in 15 of the 18 western European markets.

Germany's DAX Index lost 1.3% for the week, as did France's CAC 40.

The UK's FTSE 100 fell 2%. The Euro Stoxx 50, a measure for the euro region, retreated 0.7%.

Stoxx 600 bank shares declined 2.2% this week and accounted for 41% of the main index's drop.

UBS tumbled 8.5 %. The bank reported its first quarterly loss in almost five years after the US subprime mortgage contagion led to $4.4bn in writedowns on fixed-income securities.

Credit Suisse retreated 4.6%.

Switzerland's second-largest bank posted its first profit decline in a year after writing down $1.9 bn in fixed-income securities and leveraged loans linked to the fallout from the US subprime mortgage market collapse.

Fortis sank 8.3%. UBS analysts cut their recommendation on shares of Belgium's largest financial-services group to "sell'" from "buy".

Northern Rock, the UK bank that was bailed out by the Bank of England and now seeks takeover offers, plunged 10 %. UBS cut its share-price estimate 56 percent to 195 pence. Separately, the Financial Times on that day reported the bank may break itself up in an attempt to attract more bidders.

TomTom plunged 15%. Garmin offered to buy Tele Atlas, the world's second-largest maker of maps used in car navigation devices, for 2.3bn in cash, trumping TomTom's earlier bid by 15%. Tele Atlas jumped 22%.

Dassault Systemes retreated 8.4 %.

The company, whose design software is used by Toyota, had its biggest decline in three-and-a-half years last week after third-quarter profit missed analysts' estimates and it cut forecasts on a lower dollar.

Richard Delevan/Bloomberg

Milestones

Shannon felt the first cold wind of Aer Lingus's planned January withdrawal of its Heathrow route late Friday when the airline's management wrote to staff seeking 51 redundancies among ground operations staff at the airport. The job losses will cut the Aer Lingus Shannonside workforce of 398 by about 12.5%.

Numbers

DUBLIN ISEQ 7,615.54 DOWN 3.14% .EUROPE DJ STOXX 50 4,410.03 DOWN 0.68% .

OIL Brent = $89.06 UP 3.34% .LONDON FTSE 100 6,530.60 DOWN 1.96% .NEW YORK Dow 13,595.10 DOWN 1.53% NASDAQ 2,810.36 UP 0.22% .

EURO/DOLLAR 1= $1.4518 UP $0.0134

Equity movers

IRISH SHARES

GAINERS Company Price + % Siteserv .60 +13.21% Petroceltic .145 +11.54% TVC Holdings 1.11 +11.00% Worldspreads 76.75p +6.60% Horizon 1.00 +5.26% Donegal Cream 6.60 +4.76%

LOSERS Company Price - % Petroceltic 0.13 -16.13 Siteserv 0.53 -13.11 Trinity Biotech 1.6 -13.04 TVC 1.00 -9.09 Readymix 1.56 -8.24 Trintech $3.87 -8.09 DCC 18.32 -7.62 Glencar 0.132 -7.04 Boundary 0.708 -6.84

INTERNATIONAL GAINERS Company Price + % Microsoft $37.06 +5.85% Ceva $9.10 .45% Google $710 +5.32% Unilever 1730p +5.17% Tesco 487p 4.79% Gazprom 307.75 7% Liberty Global $40.43 +4.27%

LOSERS Company Price - % Merrill Lynch $56.49 -15.24% Citigroup $37.39 -12.06% Morgan Stanley $58.19 -10.34% Northern Rock 171.3p -10.17% JP Morgan Chase $42.88 -9.55% Barclays 537.5p -8.67%

The week ahead

MONDAY
ICT Ireland briefing on inward investment NCB purchasing managers' survey . . . services UK services PMI US ISM non-manufacturing Results: Ryanair, Burger King, Sun Microsystems, HSBC
TUESDAY
Unemployment EU services PMI, producer prices German PMI, industrial orders Results: Beiersdorf, BMW, Marks & Spencer
WEDNESDAY
Sales Institute of Ireland conference, Croke Park US productivity German industrial output Results: Cisco, ING, News Corp, Scottish & Newcastle, Time Warner, Toyota
THURSDAY
European Central Bank interest rate decision Bank of England interest rate decision US Fed chairman Ben Bernanke testifies before the congressional joint economic committee Infiation, construction employment Results: ISTC, BNP Paribas, BT, Deutsche Telekom, Ford, Man Group, Marsh & McLennan, Repsol, Siemens, Disney
FRIDAY
Kenmare Resources EGM Industrial production, public sector earnings UK external trade US external trade, University of Michigan consumer confidence Results: KBC

The week that was

WATERFORD FEELS THE DOLLAR DROP

IRISH competitiveness was the talk of several towns last week, not least amongst those working for Waterford Wedgewood.

The troubled maker of crystal and ceramics is being hit by a triple threat. The US, where 41% of its profits come from, looks like it is entering an economic downturn.

The US dollar is dropping like a stone against the euro, meaning that profits would have to rise as much as the currency shift just to keep pace. And finally its manufacturing costs at home were set to keep rising.

Some 450 workers are expected to lose their jobs.

On the other hand, at least the World Economic Forum that Ireland remains at number 22 in its Global Competitiveness Index.

FAT CAT GETS HIS CREAM The mooted economic downturn in the US hasn't affected the tradition of obscene resignation pay outs after Merrill Lynch chief executive Stanley O'Neal (right) jumped from the hot seat with a whopping $160m severance package after presiding over quarterly losses of more than $2bn. O'Neal has also been provided with office facilities for three years and a salaried executive assistance to share his golden parachute.

O'Neal suited up for the cash-laden free fall on Tuesday, a week after admitting he underestimated the firm's losses in the subprime mortgage market. Speculation is growing as to who will ultimately replace O'Neal at the 93-year old firm which O'Neal helped transform from a stock brokerage into a diversified financial operation during his five-year tenure.

APPLE GETS MORE TASTE OF PRAISE

TIME magazine named Apple's iPhone its Invention of the Year last week. The magazine selected the gadget for its design, touch screen technology, and use of a mobile operating system. Apple also received plaudits from the influential publication for its impressive sales record (1.4m units in three months) and its deal with mobile operator AT&T which allows Apple a healthy slice of network profits. These are expected to soar as AT&T announce it will enable the iPhone to work in 29 countries beyond the US. The Time article criticised the so-called 'Jesus Phone' for being too big, too slow, and too hard to type on. However its ultimate accolade was that it will redefine the future of handheld computing.

SEAGATE LEAVES SICKLY FEELING

NORTHERN IRELAND may gain 51 jobs at the expense of Shannon, but it will be harder for Derry to stomach the loss of around 900 jobs from the US tech firm Seagate.

What will make the cuts even unkinder is the fact that Seagate is hardly struggling to get by. Its latest round of earnings suggested that profits were up 30%.

SOUTH FALLS, NORTH RISES HOUSE prices in the Republic fell for the seventh month in a row according to figures released last week from the Permanent TSB/ESRI house price index. The average house price is now 300,000, or 405,000 in the capital. Meanwhile research from Halifax showed urban house prices in Northern Ireland have grown faster than any other part of the UK over the past five years. Values in Armagh have soared 188% during the period, followed by Newry (157%) and Lisburn (153%). The average price across the province now stands at 311,000.