A train stops at North Acton Station in London. Subway faces another drop in staff © John Sibley / Reuters
What started with the misery in the bombs due to rising fuel prices, then the interruption of air travel due to staff shortages will extend this week to problems on the trains, in the country that you give this mode of transport. It is likely that a series of national railway strikes, and in London another march on the tube system, will probably stop the network.
The dispute focuses on wage demands and the impact on jobs of efficiency savings, made more urgent by declining revenues during pandemic confinements. Government ministers, who, as this piece points out, now effectively control all rail funding after the changes introduced during the pandemic, have refused to speak directly with the RMT, the main union calling for action.
Whether this will have a big impact on the two British by-elections on Thursday, this week’s main election news, is a debatable question, as the poll already indicates a double blow for the Conservatives: a “red wall” and a another “blue wall.” constituency, amid outrage over its leader and the country’s prime minister, Boris Johnson.
The aviation industry will also be in the spotlight this week as the annual general meeting of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) is held in Doha. The news here is unlikely to be very positive. Last October, Iata predicted that 2.3 billion people would fly in 2021 and 3.4 billion in 2022, below the 4.5 billion that traveled in 2019.
Another international meeting this week will be the delayed meeting of Commonwealth heads of state in Rwanda. The site will raise some awkward questions for Prince Charles, who will attend on behalf of the Queen, given the UK’s agreement with the country to accommodate British asylum seekers, a policy that the heir to the throne had described as “creepy” according to a report in the Times.
The week will end with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz welcoming his counterparts from other G7 nations for a summit at the secluded Schloss Castle Elmau in Bavaria, the same place that his predecessor Angela Merkel chose in 2015. highlight here, however, is the special guest. , Narendra Modi of India, and whether this will help Western powers — Australia will do something similar on a state visit to India earlier this week — in the battle for the Allies to counter the growing proximity between Russia and Russia. China.
Economic data
Surveys are the topic of this week with a plethora of reports from purchasing managers’ indexes, regional Fed announcements in the US and Ifo’s German business confidence figures.
The highlight of the central bankers’ speeches – and there are some this week – will be Jay Powell’s biannual appearance before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee to present his monetary policy report. And in case you don’t have enough data on the cost of living, we will also receive more inflation updates from Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan.
Companies
Speakers at the Consumer Goods Forum will include Alexandre Bompard, CEO of Carrefour © Loïc Venance / AFP / Getty Images
The cost of living and shopping trends will be a hotbed of discussion among global retail groups meeting in Dublin this week for the Consumer Goods Forum. The CEOs of Unilever, Coca-Cola, Carrefour, Tesco and Walmart are on the list of speakers.
There aren’t many daily earnings announcements this week. FedEx will report fourth-quarter figures on Thursday, but this was anticipated last week with the US delivery company no longer worrying about the economy when it announced a dividend increase and two new members of the advice.
Read the full week’s calendar here