After a tough year, retailers are hoping that they will receive a boost by opening on St. Stephen’s Day. Major shops in the country’s cities will re-open on December 26, after taking just one day off for the Christmas holiday. The decision was taken by most retailers after the success of last year’s experiment. In Dublin, Clery’s, Arnotts, Brown Thomas and Debenhams will all open their doors on St. Stephen’s Day, kicking off their sales a day earlier than tradition. Budget fashion retailer Penneys will also open its main stores in Dundrum, O’Connell Street and Mary Street. Marks & Spencer has bucked the trend and will not reopen until December…

Irish bank shares rallied again on the markets this morning as European shares rose for a sixth session in a row. Today’s morning session marked a 26-month high. Dublin’s ISEQ gained 29 points to stand at 2,860. Allied Irish Bank (AIB) shares were up 6.15pc to trade at 47cent, while Bank of Ireland gained 8.53pc to 42cent. Irish Life & Permanent’s share price continues to increase and was trading at €1.21 at 11:15am today

The eldest son of convicted Ponzi scheme architect Bernie Madoff is reported to have taken his own life today, after he was found hanged in his SoHo apartment in New York. “Mark Madoff took his own life today,” began the statement from his lawyer Martin Flumenbaum today. “This is a terrible and unnecessary tragedy. Mark was an innocent victim of his father’s monstrous crime who succumbed to two years of unrelenting pressure from false accusations and innuendo.” The tragedy occurs two years to the day after his father was arrested for fraud, and subsequently jailed for 150 years for defrauding investors out of billions. Mark Madoff and other family members…

Credit ratings agency Fitch has said it will take several years before Ireland returns to an A status. It has also downgraded the debt of five of the country’s banks, including AIB and Bank of Ireland. Long-term and short-term issuer default ratings (IDRs) for AIB and Bank of Ireland have been downgraded to BBB from A- and F2 from F1. This move follows yesterday’s downgrade of the Irish sovereign. The guaranteed debt of AIB, Bank of Ireland, Anglo, EBS and Irish Nationwide has also been reduced to BBB+ from A+. All of the bank’s individual ratings were also downgraded because of the new capital requirements announced recently by the Central…

Financial services firm Citi has said it will create 250 new jobs in its Dublin and Waterford operations. The investment comes after Ireland won out a European-wide competition by the company as it tried to choose a location for the new project. The US bank, which has operated in Ireland for 45 years, currently employs 2,200 people in Ireland. Three hundred people have been hired in the past 12 months. The new positions will come on stream next year and span operations, funds, technology and product development and are likely to be filled by third-level graduates. IDA Ireland is supporting the expansion and the bank will get grants for some…