Are you excited about the start of the new lunar calendar year? The Year of the Rabbit should be marked Hope, Peace and Prosperity. We all need more of these things in 2023. However, this week is likely to focus on more pressing matters of the present, not least the ability to vaccinate China’s citizens during the holiday season.
Industrial disputes with ambulance staff in England and Wales will continue to ring out due to another strike on Monday. In Portugal, cabin crew of national airline TAP will begin strike action on Wednesday, amid a dispute over the airline’s pay offer and working conditions.
In Westminster politics on Tuesday, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, will take a more positive tone as he departs. His party’s policy priorities. He will probably weigh in on the UK’s relationship with the EU.
Coincidentally, Monday is former Prime Minister David Cameron’s 10th birthday Talk about Europe In it he promised to review the UK’s relationship with the EU and to offer a referendum on membership. Maybe Lammy will mention this.
Also in the UK, but without dealing with the British government, Nigeria is due to hold a high-stakes legal hearing at London’s High Court on Monday. Case a A long-term effort The Nigerian government must overturn an $11bn arbitration award it owes an obscure oil and gas company more than a quarter of its foreign reserves.
The main electoral news of the next seven days will be voting in the Czech presidential election, which ends on Saturday. Former NATO commander Peter Powell Pioneer. Also, Donald Trump is back. The former US president is expected to make his first public appearance on the 2024 campaign trail on Saturday, when he will name his South Carolina leadership team.
Economic data
Shoppers walk past a Gucci display window at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, which reports inflation data on Wednesday © Chen Lin/Reuters
The fourth week of the month should be changed as the survey week. Over the next seven days, we’ll compare G7 countries with purchasing managers’ index updates and the Confederation of British Industry survey of industrial trends on Tuesday, followed by Germany’s Ifo Business Climate report on Wednesday and other consumer confidence measures.
The U.S. will release its first estimate of gross domestic product growth in the fourth quarter of last year on Thursday. Spain will follow suit on Friday. Inflation announcements from the UK, Australia, Spain, Sweden and Singapore are due on Wednesday. Japan will also report its Consumer Price Index cost of living levels.
In central banker news, Fabio Panetta, a member of the European Central Bank’s board, will appear before the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs on Monday. Across the Atlantic, the Fed is entering its purdah period ahead of the next Federal Open Market Committee meeting starting on January 31, and the Bank of Canada’s Monetary Policy Committee is expected to raise its rate by another 25 basis points to 4.50 per cent. This further increases the possibility of signaling a pause.
Companies
Technology revenue is a major theme this week; Investors are concerned about the prospects for the sector after a series of significant job cut announcements by large companies. The approach taken MicrosoftTuesday’s second-quarter figures reported, Could be a model According to our West Coast editor Richard Waters, other big tech players should follow. Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella managed to give a hint of cautious optimism 10,000 layoffs announced to reduce its price last week.
It’s another week (like every week) for Elon Musk watchers Tesla The fourth quarter figures are due on Wednesday. The company has Price reduction Its electric vehicles will boost demand in the US and Europe. We assume Musk will follow the FT’s coverage of the latest numbers. Billionaire’s lawyer In court last week.
The war in Ukraine has boosted the fortunes of the world’s biggest defense contractors as governments have pledged to increase spending on weapons and other military equipment. Investors will be looking for feedback Lockheed Martin (Tuesday report) and Northrop Grumman (on Thursday) to see if these promises will generate future revenue.
