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Monday, July 15th
Results: Citigroup
Indicators: Irish trade balance (May)
Meetings: Tourism mid-year review with Minister for Tourism Shane Ross, Tourism Ireland chairman Joan O’Shaughnessy and chief executive Niall Gibbons (Tourism Ireland, Kevin Street, Dublin 2).
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Deep into the tourism season, and with Brexit around the corner, the state of the nation’s visitor influx will be picked apart on Monday when Mr Ross holds a mid-year briefing with industry officials.
One suspects it can only be relatively good news, three years after the UK’s decision to leave the EU brought considerable concerns to a visitor sector significantly dependant on British consumers.
The most recent Central Statistics Office (CSO) numbers showed that overseas visitor numbers to Ireland increased by 3.7 per cent for the first five months of the year, compared to the same period in 2018.
However, the detail is important. Tourism Ireland chief executive Niall Gibbons said at the time that the month of May had seen a continuing weak trend. As he pointed out, the success story of the Irish product lies largely with American travellers.
“North America and long-haul markets continue to show consistent growth so far throughout the year – North America grew by 9.1 per cent in the first five months of 2019, an extra 67,700 US and Canadian arrivals, and long-haul markets are up 7.2 per cent,” he said.
However, British visitors were down 4.4 per cent, as were those from mainland Europe, down 4.6 per cent in May. Both markets though have been up for the year overall – Britain by 0.8 per cent and mainland Europe by 3.2 per cent.
Tuesday, July 16th
Results: United Airlines Holdings, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson
Indicators: Euro zone economic sentiment index (Jul); trade balance (May); UK unemployment (May); average earnings (May); German economic sentiment index (Jul); current conditions (Jul); US retail sales (Jun); imports and exports (Jun); industrial and manufacturing production (Jun); housing market index (Jul).
Meetings: Rising to Global Challenges: Trade Wars and Climate Change talk by New Zealand trade and export growth minister David Parker (Institute for International and European Affairs, North Great George’s Street, Dublin 1).
Wednesday, July 17th
Results: Trinity Biotech, eBay, Netflix, EasyJet, GVC, Bank of America
Indicators: Euro zone inflation (Jun); construction output (May); UK inflation (Jun); PPI input and output (Jun); retail price index (Jun).
Meetings: Premier Foods agm
Thursday, July 18th
Results: Givaudan, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley
Indicators: UK retail sales (Jun)
Meetings: Bord Bia Glas Learning Theatre (Citywest Hotel, Dublin); Launch of Neri Summer Quarterly Economic Observer report (Buswells Hotel, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2).
On Thursday, the Nevin Economic Research Institute (Neri) launches its quarterly economic outlook report for the island of Ireland, with a particular focus in the South on potential reforms to the taxation of property and wealth.
Since its introduction, property tax in Ireland has always been a point of debate and, naturally, a political hot potato – thrown between the need for tax revenue and the potential for influencing voters.
Earlier this month, The Irish Times reported that the Government had decided against major changes in the local property tax regime because of an “uneven pace of increase” in home values.Ministers felt it was “imperative” to keep the tax stable.
Whatever Neri’s report brings to the taxation debate, its economic outlook is always anticipated.
In its spring release, it noted real gross domestic product in the Republic grew by a “very robust” 7.4 per cent annually in the first nine months of 2018.
“The Republic’s cyclical upswing is continuing, and there is, as of yet, limited evidence of overheating in the economy. However, the activities of a small number of large multinationals continue to distort these figures,” it said.
Friday, July 19th
Results: American Express
Indicators: Irish industrial production by sector (2018); euro zone current account (May); UK public sector net borrowing (Jun); German PPI (Jun)
Meetings: Why Brexit Can still be Stopped talk with Labour Lord Andrew Adonis (Institute for International and European Affairs, North Great George’s Street, Dublin 1).