Monday
Indicators: US manufacturing PMI and employment (Mar).
Tuesday
Indicators: Irish manufacturing PMI (Mar); Euro zone manufacturing PMI (Mar); UK manufacturing PMI (Mar); German retail sales (Feb), manufacturing PMI (Mar); US vehicle sales (Mar).
Wednesday
Results: Dairygold.
Indicators: Irish unemployment (Mar); Euro zone unemployment (Feb), inflation flash (Mar); UK construction PMI (Mar); US composite, services and non-manufacturing PMI (Mar).
Meetings: Chartered Financial Analysts Institute Research Challenge finals (Conference Centre Dublin); ISO Ireland information event on four ISO standard streams for business (Croke Park Conference Centre, Dublin 3).
Dairygold facing potential Brexit challenges
Open a fridge door anywhere outside Ireland or the UK and you are unlikely to find the staple block of cheddar cheese. This relatively barren international marketplace is a cause of concern for Dairygold, the largest exporter of Irish cheddar to the UK, for whom the spectre of Brexit looms particularly large.
As UK-EU negotiations trundle on, it is unclear what effects, if any, there have been on 2017 results but the issue will certainly be addressed by management at the State’s largest farmer-owned processor.
This time last year, it had begun “contingency planning” for a hard Brexit and the threat of tariffs on exports into the UK. Exactly how that process has gone will be an important talking point on Wednesday.
About a third of Dairygold's 1.2 billion litre milk pool goes into the production of cheddar cheese for the UK market. In the event that World Trade Organisation rules come into play, and with it a 16 cent per litre tariff, the trade would be rendered unprofitable.
"We're doing the right things by our members in advising, in communicating and in planning," chief executive Jim Woulfe told The Irish Times last year. "The thing we're short of at the moment is solutions."
This week should provide an opportune moment to see what difference a year makes.
Analytical talent gathers in Dublin
The European, Middle East and African (EMEA) finals of the Chartered Financial Analysts (CFA) Institute will take place in Dublin on Wednesday, bringing together the next generation of analytical talent.
Thirty seven university teams will compete to progress to the global final in Kuala Lumpur later this year.
Ireland is represented by the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School team that won the Irish final of the challenge last month. Their subject company was CRH, a report on which was subsequently presented to a panel of Irish investment experts.
This week they will submit the same report to experts drawn from the EMEA area. The 37 teams will be cut to a shortlist of five who then make a further presentation before the winner is selected on Thursday.
"This is the first time that Ireland has been chosen to host the EMEA final of the CFA Institute Research Challenge and we're delighted that so many student teams will be taking part," said CFA Society Ireland president Fran Carter.
“We still don’t know the exact implications of Brexit on the EU financial services industry, but if there is a migration of investment business to Dublin CFA charter holders are there to meet that challenge.”
Thursday
Indicators: Irish services PMI (Mar); Euro zone services and composite PMI (Mar), PPI (Feb), retail sales (Feb); UK services PMI (Mar), new car sales (Mar); German factory orders (Feb), services and composite PMI (Mar); US exports and imports (Feb).
Meetings: Dublin Chamber's Competitive Edge: A smarter way to network with Gavin Duffy (Dublin Chamber, Clare St, Dublin 2).
Friday
Indicators: Irish industrial production (Feb); Euro zone retail PMI (Mar); German industrial production (Feb), construction PMI (Mar); US non-farm payrolls and unemployment (Mar).
Meetings: Movidius founder David Moloney addresses Dogpatch Lab's First Friday event for start-ups (Dogpatch Labs, Custom House Quays, Dublin 1); Cork Chamber "Maximise your Membership" business event (Cork Chamber, Fitzgerald House, Cork).