A US delegation is due in Beijing today for trade talks with Chinese officials.

This is the first face-to-face encounter since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to a temporary truce on December 1 last.

Meanwhile, tomorrow the World Bank will update its ‘Global Economic Prospects’ report, with its forecasts for global growth.

Moving to the UK, its parliament resumes its debating on the Brexit withdrawal bill on Wednesday, with Prime Minister Theresa May seeking to avoid defeat in a vote set for next week.

The vote had previously been scheduled for last month before it was dramatically postponed. Yesterday Mrs May said she would give more detail, within days, on specific measures for Northern Ireland, further assurances from the EU to address concerns over the Irish Border backstop as well as a greater role for parliament in negotiations on the next stage of the future UK-EU relationship.

At home, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) will release a raft of data, starting with the monthly unemployment figures for December out tomorrow.

The retail sales index for November is also out tomorrow. On Wednesday, the CSO will release the industrial production and turnover figures for November, as well as the monthly services index, for November. On Thursday, the Live Register for December is out.

The CSO will round the week off with the vehicle licence figures for December, out on Friday. Also on Friday, Grafton Group releases a trading update.

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