Diary full of meetings

Hello and welcome to the work week.

Is your diary full of appointments this week? Well, so do we. It starts with State visit of China to Russia President Xi Jinping confirmed his ties to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin during a three-day trip. China has presented itself as a potential mediator in the Ukrainian conflict, although Europe and the United States are skeptical about this. This is Xi Jinping’s first visit to Russia since the war began last February.

Concerning questionable meetings, party returns to your newsfeeds. Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to testify on Wednesday cross-party investigation of the House of Commons whether he deliberately misled parliament about illegal public gatherings in the office during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Fortunately, not every item in the diary falls into a fatal loop. Progress has been made in phasing out Great Britain labor disputes. meet here about searching of decisions. In addition, on Monday, RMT members will complete a vote to accept Network Rail’s revised fee and terms proposal. But the picture is complex. For example, about 70,000 members of the Union of Universities and Colleges will resume their strike on Monday, despite claims from their employers. proposal of new proposals on wages, conditions and pensions.

Still harder on the other side of the English Channel Emmanuel Macronwhere a further strike against his pension reform may be the least of his worries, given vote of no confidence his party faces on Monday.

British trade negotiators are heading to New Delhi for the eighth round of talks to ensure Free Trade Agreement between UK and Indiastarting Monday. Read this great explanation from an equally excellent [and premium] See the Trade Secrets newsletter for information that, if agreed, would no doubt be heralded as another Brexit success (besides the Windsor scheme) for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Another thing is that it will give him or his party a chance to win the polls.

Government Sri Lanka hopes to emerge from the economic crisis this week when the IMF board of directors on Monday approves a $2.9 billion rescue package for a country. Sri Lanka’s public debt is around $40 billion to creditors including China, India and Japan, as well as to private bondholders, so it’s important that all of these countries recently given their support to the international aid program.

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Economic data

Federal Reserve takes the top spot in economic news as its monthly rate-setting committee announces a monetary policy adjustment on Wednesday. Despite the trauma of this month’s banking crisis, which some say should justify a pause in rates, markets are expecting a 25 basis point rate hike. This is definitely please OECD.

Bank of England the decision on the rate will follow on Thursday. Economists disagree on what the Monetary Policy Committee should do with market prices, with a nearly equal chance of a 25 percentage point increase or no change. Expectations that the MPC could stick to the base rate at 4 percent were reinforced by public expectations last week regarding inflation research. results.

Companies

Nike reports on Tuesday, so it’s time to dust off the athletics metaphors. The path ahead includes a number of obstacles, including the company’s significant reliance on China at a time when this is less politically acceptable in the US. Analysts polled by CapitalIQ expect earnings per share of $0.54 on revenue of $11.46 billion for Nike’s February quarter and will be interested to see how successful the company is in cutting its earnings. a significant pile of stock.

Things are getting better (slightly) for tencent while analysts forecast moderate revenue growth (less than 1 percent) for the fourth quarter. This will put an end to two consecutive quarters of falling revenues, although it will likely still show the negative impact of China’s anti-coronavirus policy, which ended in December.

Observers Await Further Announcements share distributions. Tencent is losing some of its internet holdings in China as Beijing pressures it to shrink its tech empire. It is also possible that the company will announce the sale of Kuaishou’s holdings, according to Ellie Olcott, the FT’s enterprise technology correspondent in China.

Key economic and corporate reports

Here’s a more comprehensive list of what to expect in terms of company reports and economic data this week.

Monday

• China, central bank interest rate decision

• EU January trade balance date

• France, Germany, UK: Quarterly changes in local stock indices take effect, including FTSE 100, DAX and CAC

• Germany Producer Price Index (PPI) for February, inflation data

• Mexico, financial markets closed for public holiday Benito Juarez’s birthday

• Twitter implements new policy forced two-factor authentication using text messages for all Twitter Blue accounts

• Tunisia, financial markets closed for Independence Day

• United Kingdom, Rightmove House Price Index

• Results: Computing center FG, Foot locker Q4

Tuesday

• Canada, CPI inflation data for February

• France, retail sales data for February

• Germany, March Zew Economic Sentiment Review

• UK Public Sector Loans February

• US Existing Home Sales Data

• Results: Alliance Pharma FG, mouth FG, Henry Booth FG, JBS Q4, Kingfisher FG, Lucheko FG, Nike Q3, Oxford Nanopore FG, RWE FG, trustpilot FG, YouGov H1

Wednesday

• United Kingdom, Consumer Price Index (CPI), Retail Price Index (RPI), PPI and CPI plus owner occupied housing (CPIH), inflation figures

• USA, Federal Open Market Committee decision on interest rates

• Results: Essentra FG, fever tree drinks FG, hostel world FG, tencent Q4, Ten Entertainment Groups FG, Wistry Group fiscal year

Thursday

• EU, consumer confidence data for March

• Pakistan, national holiday Republic Day

• UK, Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee rate decision

• Results: Accenture Q2, Darden Restaurants Q3, General Mills Q3, Inchcape FG, Lloyds in London FG, Pirelli FG, Wicks fiscal year

Friday

• Canada, retail sales data for January

• EU, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, USA: S&P Global Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) data for manufacturing and services

• Japan CPI inflation data for February (morning local time)

• UK retail sales data for February and GFK consumer confidence survey

• Results: Ceres Force FG, JD Weatherspoon H1, Smiths Group H1

World events

Finally, here’s a rundown of other events and milestones this week.

Monday

• Spring equinox, the first day of spring, measured by the length of the day equal to the length of the night, and by the Earth’s poles equidistant from the Sun.

• 20th anniversary of the US missile attack on Baghdad that launched the “Shock and Awe” campaign that launched the Iraq War to end Saddam Hussein’s rule.

• Meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, including discussions on Tunisia, the Windsor Framework with the UK and developments related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine

• France, the party of President Emmanuel Macron is facing vote of no confidence in parliament because of his efforts to push for pension reform

• Russian and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow during three-day state visit

• Sri Lanka, IMF board of directors meets to discuss approval $2.9 billion rescue package take the country out of economic crisis

• UK, UK and Indian officials are starting an eighth round of talks in New Delhi to try to broker a free trade agreement between the UK and India.

• UK, over 70,000 employees at 150 universities start a new three days of strikes in their dispute over wages, pensions and working conditions. Members of the government and commercial services union at the Marine and Coast Guard Agency, Ofsted and the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency are also leaving.

Tuesday

• NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg presents the defense alliance’s annual report at its headquarters in Brussels.

• US Presidential Climate Envoy John Kerry planned to visit Oaxaca in southwestern Mexico to study the area’s new climate conditions. wind energy projects

Wednesday

• 60 years since the release of The Beatles’ debut album. Please please merecorded in one 12 hour session at Abbey Road Studios in London.

• UK, former prime minister Boris Johnson provide public evidence to the Parliamentary Privileges Committee on whether he was misleading MPs due to numerous “party gate” public gatherings in government buildings during the Covid lockdown

Thursday

• Canada, US President Joe Biden is making his first trip north of the border since arriving at the White House on a state visit postponed due to Covid restrictions.

• France and unions to lead further protests against president Emmanuel Macron’s pension reformraising the retirement age by two years to 64.

Friday

• Belgium and EU leaders are attending a summit in Brussels chaired by European Council President Charles Michel.

• UK, The Conservative Party’s Spring Forum opens in Birmingham, discussing the election campaign ahead of May’s local elections and next year’s general elections.

Saturday

• Greece, public holiday Independence Day

• United Kingdom, The Scottish Green Party, junior partner of the Scottish National Party administration in Holyrood, is hosting a spring conference in Glasgow.

• WWF Earth Hour rolls around the world with iconic landmarks, skylines, businesses and homes, turning off the lights for an hour at 8:30 pm local time to highlight the impact of climate change.

Sunday

• Ukraine, National Guard Day

• Britain, King Charles and his wife Camilla are starting their first state visit as monarch and queen consort, traveling first to France and then to Germany next week.

• European Summer Time – British Summer Time in the UK – starts with the clock set forward one hour.