The week in business

A German car factory

“Boris blues” were blamed for Irish consumer sentiment hitting a five-year low. The KBC Bank Ireland/ESRI consumer sentiment index fell from 90.5 in June to 85.5 in July. Boris Johnson became British prime minister at the end of that month, but his victory had long been a foregone conclusion. The Tory leader has talked up the prospect of Britain leaving the EU without a deal. Austin Hughes, economist at KBC, said the fall ...