It is now clear that the coronavirus will result in a major hit to global growth in 2020, with many economies entering recession in the first half of the year, writes Oliver Mangan

The dollar retains the upper hand on foreign exchange markets, with the currency hitting three-year highs on a trade-weighted basis in recent days.

There are green shoots despite the slowdown in global economic

The UK’s departure from the EU last Friday was a tame enough affair in the end.

Irish factories shed much of their Brexit gloom as they expanded output last month, according to a major survey.

Last year, monetary policy returned to an easing mode, in response to a marked slowdown in global growth, and the IMF estimates that the monetary easing added 0.5% to world growth in 2019.

We have entered a period of remarkably narrow trading ranges for most of the major currency pairs.

The CSO has now published national accounts data measuring the performance of the Irish economy for the first three quarters of 2019.

The dollar has been at elevated levels for the past five years.

Over the autumn, stock markets rallied strongly, bond yields rose, and traders scaled back their expectations of further policy easing by central banks.

Sterling has remained very range-bound against the euro in the past couple of weeks, after making big gains in mid-October on news of an agreement on a revised Brexit deal.

The revised Brexit deal may have been signed off at the summit of the EU leaders last week, but getting it through the UK parliament is proving to be quite a challenge.

The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), in its latest update on the world economy, said the prospects for global growth have become increasingly fragile and uncertain.

Even though the clock is ticking down towards the UK’s exit date from the EU at the end of this month, Brexit remains as clear as mud.

Brexit and the global trade wars continue to pile on the pressure as Irish factories cut their output in September for the fourth month in a row and halted recruitment of new staff.

A marked improvement in risk appetite has been a noticeable feature of financial markets this month, leading to a sharp rise in bond yields with equities making good ground.

Sterling regained more ground last week as UK politicians moved to close off the prospect of a no-deal Brexit at the end of October.

The labour market figures for the second quarter of 2019, published by the CSO last week, are the latest data to show that while the Irish economy is still performing quite well, it has lost momentum this year.

Crash-out Brexit fears caught up with Irish manufacturers in August as output contracted at a pace not seen since spring 2013.

Sterling came under downward pressure again over the summer when Theresa May quit as British prime minister.

Growth in Ireland's services sector slowed to a three-month low in July as a drop in business orders from the UK, due to Brexit uncertainty, dovetailed with weaker domestic customer demand.

Irish manufacturing output contracted for the second month in a row and the pace of decline quickened, according to the latest survey of the health of Irish factories.

Most of the major currencies have remained quite range bound in the past few months.

Buoyant stock markets continue to climb higher. The Euro Stoxx-50 is up 17% so far this year-to-date.

New house building activity continues to increase. CSO data on new dwelling completions show they rose by 23% in year-on-year terms in the first quarter of the year. This followed a 25% increase in 2018.

The dollar has remained at very high levels for the past four and a half years.

Last week saw an array of comments from various central bankers trigger further strong gains in financial markets, with bond yields in Europe reaching all-time lows and the main stock market in the US hitting all-time highs.

Optimism amongst Irish manufacturers dropped to a near three-year low in June, as manufacturing conditions deteriorated for the first time in six years amid heightening uncertainty over the nature of Britain's exit from the EU later this year.

Last week saw an array of comments from various central bankers trigger further strong gains in financial markets, with bond yields in Europe reaching all-time lows and the main stock market in the US hitting all-time highs.

Given the financial markets' increasing focus on global monetary policy, this week contains some key events for them to digest, with central bank meetings in the US, UK and Japan.

Monetary easing has come very much back on to central bank radars.

Fears of a fresh global recession have increased with latest data showing continued shrinkage in manufacturing levels around the world as trade war and Brexit concerns escalate.