Back to life | Financial Times

Hello and welcome to the working week.

It’s over. A once in several decades combination of Abrahamic religious festivals, I mean. Corporate and political life on the other hand has been cranking up for a busy new season, as illustrated by this week’s diary.

In the US, rumours are swirling that Joe Biden will announce his bid for the 2024 presidential contest. What he will definitely be doing is hosting his South Korean counterpart Yoon Suk Yeol at the White House.

EU foreign ministers will gather in Luxembourg on Monday for a video conference with their Ukraine counterpart Dmytro Kuleba before discussing an action plan to respond further to the Russian aggression and other global conflicts — tragically, an expanding list. Finance ministers and central bank governors will arrive in Stockholm on Friday for an informal meeting that will include discussion on helping finance Ukraine’s reconstruction.

The British government will be doing its bit for the City of London’s diplomatic business mission on Tuesday when foreign secretary James Cleverly speaks at the annual Easter Banquet at Mansion House, the Lord Mayor of London’s official residence. Can it really only be 12 months since this was being delivered by then foreign secretary, now also ex-prime minister, Liz Truss?

Then there is the story of UK industrial unrest, driven by pay and cost of living concerns. This week will see further walkouts by teachers and civil servants among others in what has now become a spring of discontent.

As regular readers know, the Week Ahead exists to look forward on your behalf, but sometimes it’s important to reflect. With that in mind, thank you David Hindley for guiding this newsletter ship in my absence these past two weeks. Thank you also to those who wrote in to empathise and encourage about the Moules family’s exam revision purdah. Email me at [email protected].

If you are looking for something new this week, let me recommend the FT’s newest newsletter, One Must-Read, providing a single remarkable piece of journalism to your inbox every weekday. If you haven’t already, sign up here.

Economic data

This week’s schedule has a lot of important data. Headline acts are the first estimate first-quarter GDP numbers for the US, South Korea and the eurozone. There will also be provisional consumer price index (CPI) and harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) inflation reports from various EU countries, plus Germany’s Ifo and GfK business climate reports.

The main event in Japan is the rate-setting meeting, which concludes on Friday. The newly appointed Bank of Japan governor Kazuo Ueda has stressed that for the time being he will stick to the decade-long ultra-loose monetary policy inherited from his predecessor. But the markets are wary that this position might shift, especially after March’s core CPI was higher than expected at 3.8 per cent, its highest year-on-year level since 1981.

Companies

Earnings season is in full swing. We have more banks this week, with a particular focus on the UK’s high street lenders, as well as earnings calls from both Credit Suisse and UBS.

It is also a big week for Big Tech with quarterly results from Amazon.com, Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft. The latter will also have an eye on the UK, where on Wednesday the Competition and Markets Authority is due to finally rule on whether to block the technology company’s $69bn takeover of games maker Activision Blizzard, although this is likely to prove a damp squib as the CMA is expected to support it.

It will also be a big week for consumer goods company results, at a time when both the cost of living and obesity concerns are high on the agenda. What will Nestlé have to say when it reports numbers on Tuesday after its dressing down by institutional investors last week? If people think the Swiss multinational is bad, what about McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Domino’s Pizza, Mondelēz and Hershey, all of whom will also be reporting results?

Key economic and company reports

Here is a more complete list of what to expect in terms of company reports and economic data this week.

Monday

• Germany, Ifo Business Climate Index

• UK, Rightmove house price index

• Results: The Coca-Cola Company Q1, Credit Suisse Q1, First Republic Bank Q1, Philips Q1, Vivendi Q1 revenues

Tuesday

• South Korea, flash Q1 GDP figures

• UK, March public sector borrowing figures and HMRC tax receipts

• US, April Conference Board consumer confidence survey

• Results: ABB Q1, Alphabet Q1, Associated British Foods H1, Akzo Nobel Q1, Brown & Brown Q1, Card Factory FY, Carrefour Q1 sales, Corning Q1, General Electric Q1, General Motors Q1, Halliburton Q1, Kering Q1, Kimberly-Clark Q1, McDonald’s Q1, Microsoft Q3, Moody’s Q1, Nestlé quarterly sales, Nidec Q4, Northern Trust Q1, Novartis Q1, PepsiCo Q1, Randstad Q1, Santander Q1, Travis Perkins Q1 trading update, UBS Q1, United Parcel Service Q1, Verizon Communications Q1, Visa Q2, Whirlpool Q1, Whitbread FY

Wednesday

• Germany, GfK consumer climate survey

• UK, Q4 productivity figures

• UK, British Retail Consortium shop price index

• UK, the Competition and Markets Authority due to publish a final report on Microsoft’s $69bn takeover of ‘Call of Duty’ maker Activision Blizzard

• Results: Boeing Q1, Bunzl Q1 trading statement, Danone Q1 sales, Deutsche Börse Q1, eBay Q1, GSK Q1, Heathrow Q1, Hilton Worldwide Holdings Q1, Man Group Q1 trading statement, Meta Q1, Michelin Q1 sales, Persimmon Homes trading update, Reckitt Benckiser Q1 trading statement, Roche Q1 sales, SEB Q1, Schroders Q1 update, SK Hynix Q1, Standard Chartered Q1, Svenska Handelsbanken H1

Thursday

• Ireland, flash Q1 GDP figures

• Italy, preliminary March consumer price index (CPI) inflation rate data

• Sweden, flash Q1 GDP figures

• UK, Q4 trade data

• US, flash Q1 GDP figures

• Results: Aker BP Q1, Amazon.com Q1, American Airlines Q1, AstraZeneca Q1, Barclays Q1, Carlsberg Q1 trading statement, Caterpillar Q1, Comcast Q1, Deutsche Bank Q1, Domino’s Pizza Q1, Eli Lilly Q1, Finnair Q1, Hasbro Q1, Hershey Q1, Howdens trading update, HSS Hire FY, Intel Q1, Merck Q1, Mondelēz International Q1, Northrop Grumman Q1, Sainsbury’s FY, Samsung Q1, St James’s Place Q1 new business, Southwest Airlines Q1, STMicroelectronics Q1, Taylor Wimpey trading update and AGM, Unilever Q1 trading statement, Willis Towers Watson Q1, WPP Q1 trading update

Friday

• Eurozone, France, Germany, Italy, Spain: flash Q1 GDP data

• France, Germany, Poland: April consumer price index (CPI) inflation figures

• Germany, monthly unemployment and retail sales figures

• Japan, monetary policy interest rate decision

• Japan, March industrial production data

• Japan, March jobless rate

• Mexico, Q1 GDP figures

• UK, Q1 individual and company insolvency figures

• Results: Aon Q1, Chevron Q1, Colgate-Palmolive Q1, Electrolux Q1, EDF Q1 sales update, Eni Q1, ExxonMobil Q1, NatWest Q1, Pearson Q1 trading update, Smurfit Kappa Q1 trading update, Sony FY

World events

Finally, here is a rundown of other events and milestones.

Monday

• Luxembourg, Foreign Affairs Council meeting where EU ministers discuss Russian aggression against Ukraine, following a videoconference with Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba

• Pakistan, Eid ul-Fitr (End of Ramadan) continues. Financial markets closed

• UK, Extinction Rebellion protesters conclude a four-day programme of action in London’s Parliament Square, dubbed The Big One, with the delivery of a demand called Choose Your Future

• UK, more than 1,300 Unite Scotland members on North Sea oil rigs begin a 48-hour strike in a dispute over pay

• US, CinemaCon, the largest global gathering of movie house owners, with three days of presentations and previews of upcoming releases attended by actors, producers and directors, opens in Las Vegas

Tuesday

• 70th anniversary of Cambridge university scientists James Watson and Francis Crick describing in Nature magazine their discovery of the structure of DNA

• Australia, New Zealand: Anzac Day national holiday

• Israel, start of Yom HaZikaron (Memorial day), commemorating fallen soldiers. Financial markets closed

• Italy, Liberation Day. Financial markets closed

• UK, foreign secretary James Cleverly speaks at the City of London’s annual Easter Banquet with guests from countries the Lord Mayor will be visiting during his term in office

Wednesday

• Israel, start of Independence Day, this year commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 1948

• US, president Joe Biden hosts his South Korean counterpart Yoon Suk Yeol for a state visit to Washington

Thursday

• Netherlands, Koningsdag or King’s Day national holiday

• UK, teachers in the National Education Union in England and Wales are set to stage another walkout in their dispute over pay.

Friday

• Hungary, Pope Francis begins a three-day visit to Budapest

• Stockholm, EU finance ministers and central bank governors gather for an informal meeting, including discussions on financial support for Ukraine’s reconstruction and European financial markets

• UK, strike by 133,000 civil and public servants in a long-running dispute with the government over pay, pensions, redundancy terms and job security

• US, 20th anniversary of the launch of the Apple iTunes Store

Saturday

• France, demonstration planned against French interior minister Gérald Darmanin in Paris in solidarity with undocumented migrants

• Sweden, EU finance ministers and heads of central banks meet in Stockholm as part of the Swedish presidency of the Council of the EU

Sunday

• Paraguay, general election

• UK, Royal College of Nursing members in England begin a 48-hour strike over pay