Inside Business podcast: Wild trading causes stock market turbulence

Inside Business is a regular podcast from The Irish Times. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, on Android, on Stitcher - or wherever you find podcasts.

Wild trading in the US, sparked by fears that rising inflation could force central banks worldwide to hike interest rates, saw volatility return to global stock markets in recent days.

Markets started to take a turn for the worse late last week after an extraordinary performance throughout 2017. So, is this merely a temporary correction, or a hint of something more worrying to come?

On today’s podcast, Irish Times columnist Chris Johns says with trading increasingly taking place between computers rather than on trading floors, the finger of blame can be pointed at the robots.

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He joins Ibec’s chief economist Fergal O’Brien, Cliff Taylor and Ciarán Hancock to discuss this and whether volatility on global equity markets could be detrimental to Irish economic growth.

Also on the podcast, the EU Commission’s latest estimate showing that Ireland’s economy grew three times faster than the wider euro area last year, the Federal Reserve’s new chairman, Brexit and the merits of the government’s €115 billion National Development Plan.