In New York Thursday, a report of a surprise rise in US economic growth and a fall in oil prices, spurred a rise in stocks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced for a third straight day, closing 212.67 points higher, up 1.8%, at 11715.18 with  29 of its 30 components climbed. Coca-Cola was the only faller, off 1.2%. Insurance giant AIG - American International Group - led the risers with a gain of 7.8%.

The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 1.2% and the S&P 500 rose 1.5%

October crude futures closed down $2.56 a barrel, off 2.2%, at $115.59 and up 20% on the year.

Finfacts Report: Dr. Peter Morici: US GDP up 3.3% in Second Quarter

The Financial Times says that Merrill Lynch’s losses in the past 18 months amount to about a quarter of the profits it has made in its 36 years as a listed company, according to Financial Times research that highlights the extent of the global banking crisis.

Since the onset of the credit crunch last year, Merrill has suffered after-tax losses of more than $14bn as its balance sheet has been savaged by almost $52bn in writedowns and credit-related losses.

Merrill’s total inflation-adjusted profits between its 1971 listing and 2006 were about $56bn, according to figures from Thomson Reuters Fundamentals and an FT analysis of reported earnings.

Asia-Pacific stocks rose strongly on Friday and the MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed more than 2%.

India's economic growth slowed in the second quarter to the slowest pace since 2004 with GDP expanding 7.9% from a year earlier, following an 8.8% gain in the previous quarter

The Nikkei 225 rose 2.68%; China's CSI 300 Index added 2.39% and India's BSE Sensex 30 Index climbed 3.19%.

Asia-Pacific - benchmarks.

European stocks have fallen in early trading Friday with the Dow Jones 600 down 0.14%.

In Dublin, the ISEQ Index has fallen 1.3%

Grafton Group is down 4% after reporting a 50% plunge in first half profits. C&C is up almost 5% but IL&P has fallen over 6% after the strong gains in the past two days.

Irish Share Prices  

Rossa White, economist at Irish broker Davy, commented today that credit is being rationed more to consumers than to businesses: "Money and credit growth is slowing in the euro area. But the aggregate figures hide many differences under the surface. The two key points are as follows. First, longer-term deposits are being favoured over shorter-term ones or more ready access to cash in a sign of increased risk aversion, slowing economic activity and incentives provided by banks. Second, consumers are finding loans harder to access than businesses, although this may also reflect lower demand.

Yesterday's M3 data for July  showed that money growth is decelerating quickly. A year ago, M3 increased 11.7% year-on-year (yoy). That growth rate was 9.3% last month, the slowest rate of increase since November 2006. Tying up cash is very much in favour: deposits with maturity up to two years jumped 39.4% yoy versus a 2.2% drop for those with maturity up to three months. And household lending is drying up progressively. It rose 4.1% yoy versus a rate of 7% a year ago, driven more by mortgages than consumer credit.

The data do not bode well for economic activity, even if the rate of lending to businesses remains robust. Certainly euro area property markets will come under more pressure, as credit becomes scarcer. Nonetheless, the trend in the monetary aggregates is what the ECB would like to see. Although M3 growth is still double its reference rate of 4.5%, it is heading in the right direction. Another obstacle to rate cuts is gradually being removed."