Li Qiang in Canberra and druids at Stonehenge

Hello and welcome to the working week.

We are fast approaching the summer solstice, notable if you are thinking of druid-spotting at Stonehenge this Thursday evening, though you would be forgiven for missing the spectacle this year given the unseasonably cold and damp British weather on offer — very much a rain check.

The forecast is also not good for the Conservative party, which will be trying to defend its record of 14 years in government as the UK general election enters its final fortnight. The biggest question remains the size of Labour’s victory rather than another outcome, despite huge variations in the polls, as this story explains. By the way, the deadline to register to vote (for those who can) is midnight on Tuesday.

Li Qiang, China’s second-most powerful official, continues his visit to Australia, which is part of a wider regional tour to improve diplomatic relations after several years of acrimony. On Monday, he is due to call at Canberra’s Parliament House. Beijing recently lifted tariffs on Australian wine amid an easing of trade tensions between the two countries.

The campaign for French parliamentary elections officially starts on Monday. This is when the commissions responsible for sending out and distributing all election propaganda documents will be put in place, with posters put up across the country and a final list of candidates published by the different parties. Get more updates by reading the FT’s Europe Express newsletter. (For Premium subscribers, you can click here to get the newsletter delivered to your inbox from Monday to Saturday.)

The economic news this week is led by a rush of US and China activity indicators (retail sales, industrial production and property), then UK inflation, Japan’s revised machine orders data and comparisons between G7 nations and India with another round of purchasing managers’ index (PMI) data. The Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice) holidays in Islamic countries and the Juneteenth holiday in the US will dampen trading volumes.

Central bankers will be busy, however, most notably with the Bank of England monetary policy committee’s rate-setting vote on Thursday. UK rates are widely expected to be left unchanged at 5.25 per cent, but observers will be looking for an indication of when a loosening in monetary policy may happen. Allan Monks, chief UK economist at JPMorgan, said: “The more live debate at the moment is whether the MPC will be able to cut in August, or even at all this year.”

In company news, Darktrace shareholders will this Tuesday vote on the proposed acquisition of the company by Thoma Bravo. Also in the UK, members of the consortium led by CVC Advisers have until Wednesday to make an updated bid for the broker Hargreaves Lansdown or withdraw from the process, according to Takeover Panel rules.

One more thing . . . 

Thursday is the 40th anniversary of what was then the biggest exam shake-up in the British education system, with the announcement that O-level and CSE exams were to be replaced by the GCSE. For some of us, this was personal — I was in the last school year to sit O-levels — but now there is a discussion about whether to scrap most if not all of the exams, as my colleague Stephen Bush recently wrote about. By chance, my children attend the same state school where Stephen was once a student and it now staggers the taking of these exams — a great innovation and possible solution to the problem of test overkill in my humble opinion.

What are your priorities for the week ahead? What would you like to know more about from this week’s list? Email me at [email protected] or, if you are reading this from your inbox, just hit reply.

Key economic and company reports

Here is a more complete list of what to expect in terms of company reports and economic data this week.

Monday

• US Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook speaks at the opening evening of the Marshall Forum in Chicago, celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Marshall Scholarship.

• China: People’s Bank of China medium-term lending facility (MLF) rate announcement. Also, May industrial output, retail sales and house price index data.

• India and other countries: Bakri Id/Eid al-Adha. Financial markets closed.

• Japan: revised April machine orders data

• UK: June Rightmove house price index

Tuesday

• Darktrace general meeting of shareholders to vote on the proposed acquisition of the company by Thoma Bravo.

• Australia: Reserve Bank of Australia interest rate decision

• EU: May harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) inflation rate data

• UK: Kantar grocery market share figures and price inflation

• US: May retail sales and industrial production figures

• Results: Ashtead FY, SThree HY trading update, Tatton Asset Management FY, Whitbread Q1 trading update

Wednesday

• Takeover Panel deadline for a consortium led by CVC Advisers to give a firm intention it wishes to bid for UK broker Hargreaves Lansdown or withdraw.

• Brazil: Banco Central do Brasil interest rate meeting

• Japan: Bank of Japan monetary policy meeting minutes

• UK: May consumer price index (CPI) and producer price index (PPI) inflation rate statistics. Also, Land Registry house price index.

• US: NAHB June housing market index

• Results: Berkeley Group FY, Young & Co FY

Thursday

• China: loan prime rate (LPR) announcement

• EU: European Central Bank economic bulletin

• UK: Bank of England interest rate decision

• Results: Accenture Q3, CMC Markets FY, Darden Restaurants Q4, DS Smith FY, Kroger Q1, Speedy Hire FY

Friday

• EU, France, Germany, India, Japan, UK, US: S&P Global/HCOB/HSBC/au Jibun Bank flash purchasing managers’ index (PMI) manufacturing and services data

• Japan: May CPI inflation rate data

• UK: May public sector finances data and Great Britain retail sales figures. Also, June GfK consumer confidence index.

World events

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

Monday

• UN World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought

• Australia: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Chinese Premier Li Qiang make joint remarks to the media after a signing ceremony in Canberra. The visit concludes tomorrow.

• EU: European Council informal meeting of EU leaders

• France: first official day of the parliamentary election campaign.

• US: Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and other senior party figures to meet former president Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.

Tuesday

• UK: 256th Summer Exhibition, displaying more than 1,200 works of art by renowned artists and members of the public, opens at London’s Royal Academy.

• FT Live online webinar titled “The US-China Geopolitical Relationship: What is the Way Ahead?” Register for free here.

Wednesday

• Malaysia: Chinese Premier Li Qiang arrives in Malaysia on the next stage of an eight-day visit to the region.

• UK: Raindance Film Festival, the country’s largest independent film festival, opens in London and runs for 10 days.

• US: Juneteenth National Independence Day, commemorating when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, finally learned of their freedom

Thursday

• Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, is also considered the first day of summer for that half of the world.

• Austria: Arnold Schwarzenegger hosts his annual climate conference, the Austrian World Summit, in Vienna. Speakers include European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and UN secretary-general António Guterres.

• UK: Royal Ascot’s historic Gold Cup takes place on Ladies Day at the world-famous horseracing event.

• The FT’s Future of Finance event returns as Finance Disrupted — the Fintech track at the TNW Conference in Amsterdam, which runs today and tomorrow. Click here to buy tickets.

Friday

Saturday

• UK: Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako arrive in the UK ahead of a state visit running into next week. Also, communities around the country will mark Windrush Day, recognising the contribution of the Windrush generation and their descendants to British society.

Sunday