Russian elections and St Patrick’s Day celebrations

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Hello and welcome to the working week.

In this year of elections, attention over the next seven days will be held by the autocrats. My diary of events begins with the end of the National People’s Congress in Beijing on Monday. But the highlight (if it can be so called) will be the Russian presidential election, running over several days at the end of the week. Vladimir Putin is seeking a fifth term in office. He will get it. Read more background on this week’s poll from my colleague Courtney Weaver.

There will be other, more democratic, polls in the US presidential election primaries this week as well, but this game is now all but decided as a repeat of the 2020 Biden-Trump contest. What this does allow me to do is to give another plug to my colleague Steff Chávez’s excellent US Election Countdown newsletter, delivered to your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday. Click here to sign up. And if you want more beamed to your digital device, subscribe to the US election channel on WhatsApp.

Elsewhere this week, the group of 56 Commonwealth countries will get their annual moment in the sun — or perhaps rain, given that the gathering is in London in the spring — with a service in Westminster Abbey on Monday, due to be attended by Queen Camilla and William, Prince of Wales.

The economic reports this week include gross domestic product updates from Japan and the UK, then a run of inflation figures from the US, India and several European nations. Opec and IEA also publish their monthly oil industry reports.

We are at the tail-end of the current earnings season. This week’s themes are German carmakers (Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche), online disrupters (Deliveroo, Moonpig and HelloFresh), British retail darling of the middle classes John Lewis and plastic brick behemoth Lego.

One more thing . . . 

St Patrick’s Day celebrations will ring out around the world next Sunday, as well as in the days leading up to the feast day of Ireland’s patron saint. Time to tap into your Irish roots, which of course everybody can find if they try hard enough, even if born and raised in Tokyo. However, you celebrate it, have a good week.

What are your priorities for the next seven days? What would you like to know more about in this newsletter? Email me at [email protected] or, if you are reading this from your inbox, 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

• Deadline for UK regulators the Competition and Markets Authority and Ofcom to report back to the government’s media secretary Lucy Frazer regarding the anticipated acquisition of Telegraph Media Group by RedBird IMI

• Japan: revised Q4 GDP figures (AM local time)

• UK: annual review of the “shopping basket” of goods and services used by the Office for National Statistics to measure consumer price inflation indices. Also, Recruitment & Employment Confederation-KPMG monthly jobs report

• Indonesia: Hindu Saka New Year holiday. Financial markets closed until Wednesday

• Results: Oracle Q3

Tuesday

• Opec monthly report

• Brazil: February IPCA inflation rate data

• EU: Economic and Financial Affairs Council (Ecofin) meeting of all EU finance ministers in Brussels

• Germany: February consumer price index (CPI) and harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) inflation rate data

• India: February CPI inflation rate data

• UK: March labour market statistics. Also, Financial Policy Committee quarterly meeting, whose members include Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey

• US: February CPI inflation rate data

• Results: Costain FY, Generali FY, Hill & Smith FY, Lego FY, Manchester United Q2, Persimmon FY, Porsche FY, TP ICAP FY

Wednesday

• FT Climate Capital Live event

• Russia: February CPI inflation rate data

• UK: January GDP estimate

• Results: Adidas FY, Balfour Beatty FY, Dollar Tree Q4, Eni FY, Eon FY, F&C Investment Trust FY, Ferrexpo FY, Geberit FY, The Gym Group FY, Inditex FY, Metro Bank FY, Volkswagen FY

Thursday

• Former star UBS and Citigroup trader Tom Hayes, the first person jailed over the Libor rate scandal, will challenge his conviction in London’s Court of Appeal after a nearly decade-long battle to clear his name

• IEA Oil Market Report

• Spain: February CPI inflation rate data

• UK: Rics Residential Market Survey. UK Finance also publishes its quarterly Business Finance Review for Q4

• US: February retail sales figures and February producer price index (PPI) inflation rate data released

• Results: Adobe Q1, Bridgepoint FY, Deliveroo FY, Deutsche Bank FY, Dollar General Q4, Foxconn Q4, IG Group Q3 trading update, John Lewis Partnership FY, Moonpig trading update, Munich Re FY, OSB Group FY, RWE FY, Savills FY, Vistry Group FY

Friday

• European Central Bank chief economist Philip Lane gives the guest lecture at Imperial College Business School in London

• France: February CPI and HICP inflation rate data

• Italy: February HICP inflation rate data

• Hungary: 1848 Revolution Day. Financial markets closed

• Poland: February CPI inflation rate data

• UK: Bank of England/Ipsos February Inflation Attitudes Survey and monthly insolvency figures

• US: University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey. Also, February industrial production figures

• Results: Berkeley Group trading update, HelloFresh FY, Mercedes-Benz FY, Volution Group HY, Zurich Insurance Group FY

World events

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

Monday

• China: National People’s Congress annual session for the top legislature concludes in Beijing

• France: ninth OECD Investment Treaty Conference, titled Supporting the global energy transition, in Paris and online. Opening remarks from Yoshiki Takeuchi, OECD deputy secretary-general

• UK: Commonwealth Day memorial service at Westminster Abbey, involving the 56 member countries and members of the British royal family in the annual celebration of the global network

• US: President Joe Biden submits his budget proposals to Congress for the fiscal year 2025

Tuesday

• Mexico: Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia arrive for a three-day state visit at the invitation of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

• UK: 40th anniversary of Arthur Scargill, then president of the National Union of Mineworkers, announcing the start of a nationwide miners’ strike

• US: presidential primary elections held in Georgia, Mississippi and Washington state, and a presidential caucus held by the Hawaii Republican party

Wednesday

Thursday

• Italy: G7 Ministerial meeting on Industry, Tech and Digital begins in Verona and Trento, running through Friday.

• Belgium: Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg holds a press conference to present his annual report for 2023

• UK: Welsh Labour leadership ballot closes, with the winning candidate announced on Saturday

Friday

• Russia: presidential election begins, with voting continuing until Sunday

• UK: Cheltenham Gold Cup, the highlight of the four-day Cheltenham Festival horse race meeting. Also, the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference opens in York

Saturday

Sunday

• Ireland: St Patrick’s Day, celebrating the patron saint of Ireland, traditionally with parades throughout the country. Other celebrations around the world