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Hello and welcome to the work week.
Or should that be voting week? The next seven days will certainly have a record crop of elections.
On Monday, we will take the fallout from Italy’s sting to the right after the completion of a bad-tempered election campaign. The Financial Times started early with a Big Read on what a far-right government means for the rest of Europe. On Tuesday, from 2pm BST, join FT correspondents and a special guest to attend a virtual subscriber briefing on the election results. Get your pass ft.com/italianelection and present your questions to the panelists.
We also have elections this week in Latvia, Bulgaria, Kuwait and Bosnia and Herzegovina. But the big one will be Sunday with the first round of the Brazilian presidential election. The frontrunner in the race is left-wing former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, but incumbent Jair Bolsonaro is far from out of the running. Tensions are running high.
A smaller but nonetheless important vote will take place on Thursday, when the City of London councilor will decide on the next mayor. This largely ceremonial role will be key to promoting the UK’s financial center, so it’s important. Hopefully the vote won’t be as controversial as last year’s.
Aside from the election, it’s been a strong week for space travel. On Monday, NASA will crash a spacecraft traveling at 23,000 km/h into an asteroid to reroute its path. The $300 million Dart mission, short for Double Asteroid Redirection Test, has chosen an asteroid called Dimorphos as its target because it orbits another asteroid rather than the sun.
The US space agency is again launching Artemis I the next day, the first in a series of increasingly complex missions to establish a permanent human base on the moon.
If that wasn’t uplifting enough, the week will end with the return of the London Marathon, albeit six months later than the usual April window for it to take place at all after the disruption brought about by the pandemic. In another unusual change, I’ll be running it (also, almost certainly for just one year) for the benefit of a old school adventure playground along the way – you can read about the playground in a piece I wrote about the importance of play for the Weekend FT. You can pass on click here.
Thank you for your responses to this newsletter. Get in touch at jonathan.moules@ft.com or click the reply email.
businesses
Continuing the theme play, Lego (the name is derived from the Danish expression leg god, or play well) reports the half-year figures on Wednesday. The toymaker has led analysts to expect sales to normalize after the pandemic boom, but sales are expected to continue to outpace industry rivals.
Thursday is an exciting day for petrolheads as shares in Porsche will start trading on the Frankfurt stock exchange after the long-awaited IPO of the luxury car brand.
It’s a more bleak week for those who love the silver screen. Ailing movie house chain movie world will publish the half-year figures on Friday. While the group is expected to make a profit, as opposed to last year’s loss, the focus will be on its latest cash and net debt level after the company filed for bankruptcy protection in the US earlier this month.
Economic data
This will be a week to find out how economies are performing and how the public expects them to perform with gross domestic product figures from the US, Canada and the UK, as well as various consumer confidence surveys.
We will also gain more insight into Europe’s struggle to calm inflation with the release of consumer and producer price indices from Germany, France and Italy.
Key economic and business reports
Here’s a more complete list of what to expect this week in terms of business reports and economic data.
Monday
The President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, attends the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament in Brussels
The OECD publishes its short-term outlook for the global economy in its Interim Economic Outlook
Germany, Ifo Business Climate Index
Japan, S&P Global Composite (Services and Manufacturing) Purchasing Managers Index (PMI)
Tuesday
France, monthly unemployment benefits claims
Nigeria, Monthly Interest-Setting Meeting
Huw Pill, chief economist at the Bank of England, speaks at the CEPR/Barclays Monetary Policy Forum
Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Monthly Home Price Index plus Residential Home Sales
US Consumer Confidence Data
Results: AG Barr H1, Ferguson Q4, saga H1
Wednesday
France, monthly consumer confidence figures
Germany, monthly consumer confidence survey GfK
Japan, Bank of Japan publishes minutes of its latest monetary policy meeting
UK, British Retail Consortium Nielsen Monthly Retail Price Index
UK, keynote speech by Sir Jon Cunliffe, Deputy Governor for Financial Stability at the Bank of England, at the AFME Operations, Post-trade, Technology & Innovation conference on “The role of technology in change the landscape for payments and settlement systems “
Results: boo H1, Lego H1, Media for Europe H1, Shepherd Neam For your information
Thursday
Canada, July GDP figure
Germany, consumer price index (CPI) inflation rate
Italy August Producer Price Index (PPI) Inflation Rate
Shares in Porsche due to the start of trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange
Loan data UK, Bank of England
US, second quarter GDP figures (third estimate)
Results: car grill sales performance until August 31 H&M Q3, Next one H1, Nike Q1
Friday
China, Caixin General Manufacturing and Services PMI Data
EU, eurozone inflation and unemployment figures
France, preliminary monthly CPI and PPI inflation data
Germany, monthly unemployment, import prices and retail sales data
Italy, August unemployment data and CPI inflation data
Japan, monthly unemployment rate, industrial production and retail sales
UK, British Retail Consortium Monthly Economic Briefing
UK, updated Q2 and monthly GDP figures
US Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Lael Brainard gives opening address at Financial Stability Considerations for Monetary Policy Conference
Results: movie world H1
World Events
Finally, here’s an overview of this week’s other events and milestones.
Monday
Austria, the annual General Conference of the Member States of the International Atomic Energy Agency begins in Vienna
New Zealand, a public holiday and state memorial service on the occasion of the death of Queen Elizabeth II
Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, one of Judaism’s holiest days, commemorating the creation of the world, is celebrated
US, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (Dart) mission to intentionally crash a spacecraft into an asteroid is expected to begin
US, Elizabeth Holmes expected to be convicted in a San Jose court after being convicted in January of defrauding investors in her Theranos company
Tuesday
Japan, state funeral at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot during a campaign rally in July
UK, Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer speaks and answers questions from delegates at his party’s conference in Liverpool, pressuring him to introduce himself as prime minister pending
UK 1,900 Unite members working in the port of Felixstowe and responsible for 48 per cent of UK container goods begin second eight-day strike
The US, Artemis I, the largest and most powerful rocket launched by NASA, is scheduled to to take off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This will be the first in a series of increasingly complex missions to build a long-lasting human presence on the moon for decades to come.
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
UK, last day of £20 and £50 paper notes available legal tenderreplaced by polymer tones
UK, Communications Workers Union members employed by Royal Mail begin two-day strike
Saturday
China National Day Commemorating the Founding of the People’s Republic of China, the beginning of the Golden Week National Day
Germany, minimum wage rises to €12 per hour
Latvia, parliamentary elections
Nigeria National Day
UK, railway workers in RMT and Aslef unions start first of two 24-hour strikes over wages
UK, NHS operations in England should ensure: improved access appointments between 6.30pm and 8pm Monday through Friday and between 9am and 5pm on Saturdays under new government contracts imposed by the government in April.
UK, energy regulator Ofgem’s price cap comes into effect
Sunday
Australia Daylight Saving Time begins
Bosnia and Herzegovina, general elections
Brazil, first round of presidential elections. If no one gets more than 50 percent of the valid votes, a second round will take place on October 30 between the two best candidates.
Bulgaria, parliamentary electionsthe fourth country in two years
UK, the London Marathon
UK, Conservative Party conference begins in Birmingham