Biden to meet McCarthy at White House on debt ceiling crisis

Hello and welcome to the working week.

US President Joe Biden is meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other top congressional leaders to address the threat that the nation will not repay its debt. Talks at the White House on Tuesday were called after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that the government ran out of money from June 1.

A major military anniversary for the Russians and a major gathering of NATO military leaders will ensure that the war in Ukraine remains in the headlines this week as well.

Victory Day is a major national holiday for Russians, commemorating the surrender of Nazi Germany to Soviet forces in 1945. But this year’s anniversary on Tuesday will be notable for the low-key nature of many celebrations, including the cancellation of local military parades.

The conflict in Ukraine will also provide the background music for a meeting of NATO defense chiefs in Brussels on Wednesday. Given that we have yet to see Ukraine’s long-awaited counter-offensive, there will be little cause for celebration here either.

Media companies dominate earnings reports this week, particularly the quarterly results of Rupert Murdoch’s two broadcast and newspaper titans: Fox and News Corp. The companies themselves have made headlines with the record out-of-court settlement with Dominion and concern over whether Rupert has lost his safe touch amid a family battle over the succession.

Another potentially interesting story is a mid-week vote of confidence in the chairman of Britain’s favorite middle-class department store, John Lewis. More details on this below.

The big economic event of the week will be the monthly meeting of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee. The MPC is thought to have another quarter point rise in its tightening cycle, but a poll of economists by Reuters found it was too close to call whether that increase – bringing the base rate to 4.5% – would happen this week.

The week ends with a series of crucial elections. Most important on Sunday are presidential and parliamentary plebiscites in Turkey, where populist strongman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan faces his toughest re-election campaign after two decades in power. Opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu is optimistic, telling the FT last month that he would not let the election go ahead”stolenby Erdoğan. FT journalists will be on the ground report results as they enter.

Thank you for your feedback on the week ahead. Bring them in by emailing me at jonathan.moules@ft.com.

Economic data

It’s not a great week for economic data, but there will be inflation rate updates from China, Germany and the United States. The focus then returns to the UK on Friday for its first analysis of Q1 GDP.

Companies

It looks like we’ve passed the peak of last earnings season, but there are plenty of big companies reporting this week across a variety of sectors, including disney, Nissan And Rolls Royce.

Could there be a change at the helm of Britain’s favorite middle-class department store chain? A vote of confidence in john lewis Lady Sharon chair White will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday among the 74,000 employees of the brand owned by its employees. The plebiscite is held once a year and a vote against White would come as a surprise, but this time it could be messy due to growing unrest over the retailer’s recent poor performance.

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.

Monday

• Germany, April industrial production figures

• United Kingdom, financial markets closed for a public holiday after the coronation of King Charles III

• United States, the deadline for the lawyers of the founder of FTX Sam Bankman Fried to file lawsuits in New York, formally responding to the criminal fraud charges brought against him by federal prosecutors

• Results: Marubeni AF, PayPal Q1, Six Flags Entertainment Q1, Tyson Foods Q2

Tuesday

• Australia, Treasurer Jim Chalmers presents the annual report federal budget

• France, trade balance figures

• UK, Halifax House Price Index and British Retail Consortium-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor

• USA, Former Coinbase Global Product Manager Ichan Wahi must be sentenced after To plead guilty in first insider trading case involving cryptocurrency

• Results: Airbnb Q1, all the birds Q1, BuzzFeed Q1, Direct line Q1 Commercial Update, duke energy Q1, electronic arts Q4, Fox Q3, Mitsubishi AF, nintendo AF, Saudi Arabia Q1, Sumitomo AF, Warner Music Group Q2, Wynn Resorts Q1

Wednesday

• Google holds its annual Input/Output developer conferencewith new product launches and a keynote from Managing Director Sundar Pichai

• Stephanie Bruce, CFO of a struggling fund manager Abrdnresigns after the company’s annual general meeting today

• Germany, April Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Harmonized Indices of Consumer Price (HICP) inflation rate data

• UK Employment Report, KPMG and Confederation of Recruitment and Employment

• United States, April data on the CPI inflation rate

• Results: ABN Amro Q1, Ahold Delhaize Q1, Alstom AF, asos H1, Compass Group H1, Continental SA Q1, Agricultural credit Q1, disney Q2, E.ON Q1, ferroglobe Q1, Melrose Industries business update, New York Times Company Q1, Japanese steel Q4, panasonic AF, Toyota Q4, You H1, Tablespoon business update

THURSDAY

• China, April CPI and Producer Price Index (PPI) inflation rate data

• UK, Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee Meeting on Rate Setting

• United States, April data on the PPI inflation rate

• Results: Group 3i AF, Bayer Q1, Deutsche Telekom Q1, foxcon Q1, Honda engine AF, ING Q1, TVI Q1 Commercial Update, press company Q3, Nissan engine Q4, Pirelli Q1, Rolls Royce General meeting and update on the negotiation, RWE Q1, Soft Bank AF

Friday

• The former boss of the Argentinian sports marketing company Torneos y Competencias Alejandro BurzacoWHO pleaded guilty in 2015 for racketeering and other charges in a wide-ranging football corruption investigation, is to be sentenced in Manhattan court

• France, April CPI and HICP inflation figures

• UK, flash Q1 GDP estimate

• US and University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey

• Results: Allianz Q1, Balfour Beatty General meeting and update on the negotiation, Beazley Q1 Commercial Update, norwegian air Q1, Richemont AF, Societe Generale Q1, Tata Engines Q4, Toshiba AF

Global Events

Finally, here’s a look at some of the other events and milestones from this week.

Monday

• Korea, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida meets South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in the first summit between the two nations in a decade

• Switzerland, May WTO General Council meeting begins in Geneva

• In the United States, President Joe Biden is due to meet with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy at the White House to discuss the government’s debt ceiling.

Tuesday

• Indonesia, 42nd Summit of Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) starts in Labuan Bajo

• Russia, Victory Day commemorating the formal surrender of Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union on May 9, 1945

• United Kingdom, the 1,400 security guards of the Unite union at Heathrow airport begin a 48 hour strike in an ongoing compensation dispute. Separately, Unite members at GSK’s Ware factory begin a 49-hour march in a national wage dispute with the pharmaceutical company.

Wednesday

• Belgium, NATO defense chiefs are meeting in Brussels to discuss issues of strategic importance to the military alliance, namely the Ukrainian conflict.

• UK, another strike, this time by members of the Public and Commercial Services Union working for HMRC in Glasgow and Newcastle over wages, pensions, job security and dismissal conditions. It is the first of a series of walkouts which should continue until June.

THURSDAY

Friday

• Guatemala, Ninth Summit of Heads of State of the Association of Caribbean States in Antigua

• United States, President Joe Biden receives Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez for talks at the White House

SATURDAY

• Portugal, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and his son Eduardo Bolsonaro are set to attend a far-right summit in Lisbon

• Sweden, Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell will jointly host the EU Indo-Pacific Ministerial Forum in Stockholm.

• UK, Liverpool will host the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, one of the biggest TV events in the world, on behalf of Ukrainewho won last year.

• UK rail union members RMT resume strike at 14 rail operators after rejecting Rail Delivery Group’s latest bid

Sunday

• Albania, local elections

• Germany, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will receive the prestigious German Charlemagne Prize (Karlspreis) for “having defended the sovereignty of their country as well as Europe and its values”.

• Israel, 75th anniversary of the country’s declaration of independence

• Italy, first round of municipal elections

• Thailand, legislative elections

• Türkiye, presidential and legislative elections

• United States, Canada, Australia: Mother’s Day