Brussels hosts a delicate international debate

Hello and welcome to the working week.

Joining an international club can be complicated, something to be unveiled over the next seven days with reunions for some of the most important of them, and 76th birthday celebrations for the biggest of all, the UN.

EU leaders will meet in Brussels on Thursday and Friday for the European Council summit. There will be a lot to discuss, from the role of the EU in stabilizing gas prices to the importance of the transatlantic partnership and bloc’s relations with China – there will also likely be pledges to share the Covid-19 vaccine. with the developing world – but brace yourself for a row, with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte voicing concerns over Poland’s failure to comply with EU law.

It seems like a good time to publish FT’s Europe Express newsletter, which will cover these issues in more detail. You can sign up to receive it in your inbox here. You can also email me about The Week Ahead: [email protected].

Brussels is home to not one but two international clubs. NATO defense ministers also meet in the Belgian capital at the weekend. This gathering of military leaders may give an indication of the group’s determination in the aftermath of the exit from Afghanistan and the creation of the Australian-British-American alliance, Aukus.

Europe does not have a monopoly on cross-border networks. New Zealand will also host a meeting this week, bringing together finance ministers from Asia-Pacific economic cooperation countries to discuss macroeconomic and financial issues in their region.

Companies

Profit season is in full swing. It will be a busy week for the Paris office of the FT. Many announcements from French companies will be business updates, but it won’t just be the numbers that will be of interest.

For the first time, Danone shareholders will hear CEO Antoine de Saint-Affrique speak publicly. Many are hoping he will give clues to his recovery plans – an uphill battle.

Carrefour is reporting on Wednesday, but what many will want to hear is what CEO Alexandre Bompard has to say about the supermarket’s strategy after buyout talks failed with Auchan, a small private family-owned French food retailer. billionaire Mulliez.

Recovery from the pandemic will be a theme elsewhere. Anglo-Dutch consumer goods company Unilever, which reports Thursday, is grappling with rising costs for food, energy and packaging. The question is whether its brands have enough strength to pass some of that extra expense on to consumers, preserving Unilever’s margins.

The most viewed number for Netflix is ​​the subscribers. Love it or hate it, the success of Squid Game got people talking about the streamer’s content. But will this allow it to attract new customers? In the last quarter, the tech media group beat forecasts by adding 1.5 million new subscriptions, but it was much slower than at the same time in 2020, when the pandemic kept us all at home.

Finally, or rather finally, the shareholders of Wm Morrison will vote on Tuesday on the takeover offer of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. The company needs 75 percent backing for the CD&R deal to go through. Some shareholders, including the largest, Silchester, had opposed the offers earlier in buyout talks, but sentiment has heated since CD&R raised its offer this month to 287 pence a share.

Economic data

We start the week with the Chinese GDP figures. Here are five things to watch out for in data.

The UK is providing the inflation news this week with the release of its Consumer Price Index and its Producer Price Index. The overall figure is expected to decline – albeit temporarily – but the recent surge in short-term gilt yields indicates that money markets feel that a rate hike is about to suppress further increases.

For international comparisons of the economic recovery, there are a handful of reports on Markit’s G7 purchasing managers index.

Friday’s data on consumer confidence and retail sales from Gfk will indicate whether rising energy prices and Covid uncertainty are slowing the UK’s recovery.

Main economic and corporate reports

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

On Monday

• China, Q3 GDP data and monthly retail sales figures

• UK Rightmove monthly house price figures

• United States, monthly industrial production and capacity utilization figures

• Results: Charles Schwab T3, Philips electronics T3, Schröders update Q3, State Street T3

Tuesday

• BHP Billiton First quarter production figures

• Hungary, interest rate decision

• WM Morrison shareholder vote on the takeover bid for Clayton, Dubilier & Rice

• United States, data for new residential construction

• Results: Bank of New York Mellon T3, Bellway FY, Canadian National Railway Company T3, Danone Q3 sales, Deutsche Börse T3, Halliburton T3, Johnson & johnson T3, Kering Q3 sales, Netflix T3, Omnicom T3, Philip morris T3, Procter & Gamble T3, TV2 T3, Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson T3, Business travelers T3

Wednesday

• Canada, inflation data

• China, key rate

• EU, Eurostat inflation data

• Germany, monthly producer price index for industrial products

• United Kingdom, Office for National Statistics data on inflation and public sector finances

• United States and the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book on the Health of the Economy

• Results: Akzo Nobel T3, ASML T3, Biogen T3, crossroads Q3 sales, Deliveroo 3rd quarter commercial update, IBM T3, Kuehne nagel T3, Nasdaq T3, Nestle Q3 sales, Northern Trust T3, rock Q3 sales, Segro 3rd quarter commercial update, Svenska Handelsbanken T3, Verizon Communications T3

Thursday

• Anglo-American Q3 production update

• EU and European Commission shine a light on consumer confidence figures

• Rentokil Initial Q3 Business Update

• Turkey, one-week repo rate

• UK and CBI Quarterly Industrial Trends Survey

• UK and ONS Retail Sales Figures

• Business Outlook for the Philadelphia Fed in the United States

• Results: ABB T3, AT&T T3, Barclays T3, black stone T3, Danaher T3, DNB Bank T3, Dow T3, Hermes Q3 sales, Intelligence T3, L’Oreal T3, Marsh & McLennan T3, Mattel T3, Nordea Bank T3, Pernod Ricard first quarter sales, Trusted industries T2, SAP T3, Break T3, Southwest Airlines T3, Swedish bank T3, TeliaSonera T3, Pacific Union T3, Unilever T3, Vivendi Q3 sales, Volvo T3, Whirlpool T3

Friday

• Canada, monthly retail sales figures

• Eurozone, France, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom, United States: data from the purchasing managers index of Markit’s flash composite (manufacturing and services)

• UK Monthly Retail Sales and Consumer Confidence Data from GfK

• Results: American Express T3, Hitachi T2, Hyundai mobis T3, Remy Cointreau H1, Renault T3, Royal Caribbean Group T3, Saab T3, Schlumberger T3, Sika T3

Global events

Finally, here’s a look at other events and milestones this week.

On Monday

• Greece, torchlighting ceremony in Olympia for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games

• UK, vaccination passport application begins in Scotland

Tuesday

• International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition opens in South Korea and Seoul

• Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey speaks at joint research conference with Banca d’Italia on macro-financial impacts of net zero transition

Wednesday

• France, fossilized remains of ‘Big John’, largest triceratops dinosaur discovered, will be sold at Paris auction house

• Libya, 10th anniversary of the death of ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi

Thursday

• Belgium and EU leaders meet for European Council summit in Brussels

• France, release of Asterix and the Griffon, the first comic strip to appear since the death of the co-creator and illustrator of Asterix Albert Uderzo

• UK Queen attends service in Armagh to mark Northern Ireland centenary

Friday

• Belgium and NATO Defense Ministers meet in Brussels

• New Zealand and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Finance Ministers meet to discuss regional macroeconomic and financial issues

• Norway, opening of Munch, a museum in Oslo dedicated to the Norwegian modernist painter Edvard Munch

• Russia, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin during country visit

Saturday

• In the United States, the auction of 11 paintings and works by Picasso in Las Vegas is expected to fetch $ 100 million, making it the most valuable sale of its kind dedicated to the Spanish artist

Sunday