Fed chairman Alan Greenspan must be breathing a sigh of relief - his comment indicating a likely easing of US interest rates has been given a vote of confidence by Tony O'Reilly. In an "exclusive" interview with his own Irish Independent, the Heinz chairman was very emphatic that rates must be cut and that the Fed should take the advice of "very important people".

Dr O'Reilly does not indicate whether he considers himself one of these "very important people" but he says: "The next two weeks are crucial." The interview concludes: "Enter stage left Mr Greenspan." The Margin is in no doubt the people who make up the Fed's open markets committee will reflect fully on Dr O'Reilly's views. Indeed, who needs the Wall Street Journal when the Indo has the ear of Mr Greenspan? Or the Sunday Tribune, for that matter, which carried its own version of the same "exclusive" interview four days earlier.