Vehicle licensing stats to provide vital early context for sector

Monday

Indicators: Irish trade statistics (Oct), vehicles licensed for first time (Dec); UK construction output (Nov), industrial and manufacturing production (Nov), GDP (Nov); US consumer inflation expectations (Dec).

Car sales

Electric and hybrid car sales will be a major talking point in 2020 given the sense of urgency in carbon reduction across the sector.

While there has been much talk about the increase in sales, the relative rate compared to overall vehicle purchase - compounded by price and suitability of EVs and hybrids - remains the real story.

As the focus sharpens, December data released by the Central Statistics Office on Monday will give a good annual overview of buyer behaviour for the entire of 2019.

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Vehicles licensed for the first time statistics for November showed electric and alternative fuel vehicles accounted for 10.4 per cent of all private cars licensed in the first 11 months of 2019, compared with 6.8 per cent in the same period in 2018. For the first 11 months of the year there were over 213,000 new and used car sales of all types.

Diesel vehicles accounted for 47 per cent of all new private cars licensed in the first eleven months of 2019, compared with 54 per cent in the same period in 2018.

Last month it was reported that the Government was preparing a ban on the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2030 with a summary of the plan due before Cabinet in the new year.

Whatever happens, change is afoot in the sector and Monday’s figure will provide vital early context.

Tuesday

Results: Sudzucker, Delta Airlines, Citigroup, JP Morgan & Chase, Wells Fargo.

Indicators: US business optimism index (Dec), inflation (Dec).

Wednesday

Results: Bank of America, Goldman Sachs.

Indicators: Irish exports and imports (Nov), residential property price index (Nov); Euro zone industrial production (Nov); UK inflation (Dec), PPI output and input (Dec), retail price index (Dec); German GDP (2019); US PPI (Dec).

Meetings: Derville Rowland, director general of financial conduct at the Central Bank, will address the Association of Compliance Officers in Ireland on financial conduct regulation (Chartered Accountants House, Pearse St, Dublin 2).

Thursday

Results: Morgan Stanley.

Indicators: Irish consumer price index (Dec); German inflation (Dec); US retail sales (Dec), export and import prices (Dec), business inventories (Nov).

Meetings: European Central Bank monetary policy meeting.

Brexit developments

The new year should bring tidings of Brexit developments but even as Boris Johnson settles into his first publicly elected term as prime minister with an impressive mandate, the future UK-EU relationship remains as unpredictable as ever.

Trade negotiators are facing a tight deadline many consider unlikely to achieve results. In the meantime, Irish businesses moving goods across Northern Ireland and the UK are getting ready, or should be.

From Thursday, and over the course of a week-and-a-half, Enterprise Ireland offices around the country will be running workshops for anyone who feels the need to investigate the trading challenges ahead.

“You need to prepare your business for customs and you need to prepare now,” a video segment on the course warns in stark terms.

As well as navigating paperwork, the workshops aim to address terminologies, show companies how to classify goods and help them understand their potential duty costs.

Funded by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation the workshops will also look at import and export procedures, formalities at borders, the Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) process and the electronic declaration process and Automated Entry Processing (AEP).

Friday

Indicators: Euro zone construction output (Nov), inflation (Dec); UK retail sales (Dec); German wholesale prices (Dec); US industrial and manufacturing production (Dec).