A week for reflection: Afghanistan a year on, and 75 years since partition

Hello and welcome to the working week.

There is an anniversary on nearly daily of the year, however some carry extra historic significance than others, and that is a type of weeks.

Afghanistan has two anniversaries arising. Friday is Independence Day, commemorating the signing of the Treaty of Rawalpindi in 1919, wherein Britain granted Afghanistan self-determination over its overseas affairs. However, most will likely be extra involved with Monday, which marks a year since the Taliban regained management. The FT has produced a sequence of articles about how society and the economic system has modified since the non secular group’s return to energy 12 months in the past, and they’re price a learn.

This week additionally begins with the seventy fifth anniversary of the British withdrawal from the Indian subcontinent, marking the partition of India and Pakistan. India’s prime minister Narendra Modi is to deal with the nation from historic Red Fort in Delhi with the main focus more likely to be on the troubles in Kashmir, the nation’s solely Muslim-majority state.

For British schoolchildren, it’s all in regards to the current as college students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland on Thursday obtain the emails and envelopes containing their A-level and vocational examination outcomes. The activity of accepting and discovering college locations by means of the clearing course of will then start in earnest.

As with the Advanced Higher examination scores introduced for Scottish college college students final week, the A-level outcomes are anticipated to be down on final year, however most likely up on pre-pandemic years. The examination physique AQA has stated papers will likely be more generously graded to replicate the return to normal test conditions. Maybe, you’re of an opinion that the entire system of examinations needs to be abolished? FT columnist-turned-teacher Lucy Kellaway appears to be like on the pressures going through schoolchildren and the problem of tension in colleges.

Some occasions are taking place at a extra frequent price this year, particularly British strikes. The UK’s summer time of discontent will likely be marked by one other nationwide rail strike this week, made worse by a basic walkout throughout London’s public transport networks. Next Sunday, greater than 1,900 staff at Britain’s greatest container port Felixstowe are set to strike, plus now we have one other week of the legal barristers’ strike at courts in England and Wales, with no decision in sight.

So how about some excellent news? We are about to take a vital step ahead — a big leap, even — in Nasa’s Artemis area programme. The mission goals to land the primary lady and minority ethnic astronaut on the Moon, getting ready for a long-term lunar presence and offering a stepping stone to sending people to Mars. Nasa plans to livestream the switch of the Artemis 1 rocket to the launch pad on Wednesday with the intention of finishing lift-off by the tip of the month.

Economic information

Inflation watchers will likely be saved busy this week with updates from the EU, Japan and Canada, plus, on Wednesday the publication of the Federal Open Market Committee’s newest assembly minutes will maybe give some indication of the Fed’s willingness to tighten financial coverage.

It can be going to be a busy week for British financial information with figures on employment, inflation, productiveness, retail gross sales, client confidence and home costs (is the market at a turning level?). All are more likely to garner touch upon the state of UK plc.

Companies

Online sellers had a fairly good pandemic, largely as a result of shoppers had few different choices when making purchases through the lockdowns. Now that journey restrictions have been lifted, it’s the flip of the service sector to revenue, as proven in latest outcomes for airways and lodge chains. My colleague Brooke Masters explains.

This week we attain the tail-end of the present reporting season with outcomes from a clutch of shops which are both purely on-line or have benefited significantly from ecommerce, notably Walmart on Tuesday, Target and Tencent a day later, and AO World on Thursday.

AO World is attempting to shift its enterprise mannequin away from gross sales progress to constructing and sustaining margins. The downside for such retailers as we enter an financial slowdown will likely be sustaining enough gross sales demand.

Key financial and firm experiences

Here is a extra full checklist of what to anticipate when it comes to firm experiences and financial information this week.

Monday

• Canada, month-to-month manufacturing survey plus wholesale trade figures

• China, July retail gross sales and industrial manufacturing figures

• India, month-to-month trade statistics

• Japan, month-to-month industrial manufacturing figures

• Nigeria, month-to-month inflation information

• UK, Rightmove home worth index

• US, Federal Reserve board of governors member Christopher Waller provides opening remarks to the 2022 Summer Workshop on Money, Banking, Payments, and Finance hosted by the Fed

• Results: HelloContemporary H1, Henkel H1, Phoenix Group H1, Saudi Aramco H1 monetary assertion (outcomes and dividend introduced on Sunday), Westpac Q3 buying and selling replace

Tuesday

• Australia, minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s August coverage assembly

• Colombia, Q2 GDP information

• EU, worldwide items trade figures

• Germany, ZEW financial sentiment survey

• UK, flash Q2 productiveness estimate plus employment statistics

• US, July industrial manufacturing plus residential building figures

• Results: BHP Billiton FY, Genuit Group H1, Home Depot Q2, Pandora H1, Softline Q1 buying and selling replace, Walmart Q2

Wednesday

• Bulgaria, flash Q2 GDP information

• Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for worldwide passenger visitors, experiences passenger visitors figures for the primary half of the year

• France, wheat harvest high quality report

• New Zealand, rate of interest resolution

• UK, July producer worth index (PPI) information, plus Office for National Statistics (ONS) non-public housing rental worth information and home worth index

• US, Federal Open Market Committee publishes the minutes of its July assembly

• Results: Balfour Beatty H1, Carlsberg H1, Cisco Systems This autumn, Glanbia H1, Lowe’s Cos Q2, Persimmon H1, Santos H1, Swiss Life H1, Target Q2, Tencent Q2

Thursday

• Canada, July client worth index (CPI), plus industrial product and uncooked supplies worth indices

• EU, July inflation figures

• Results: AO World FY, AutoStore Q2, Estée Lauder This autumn, Geberit H1, Hella FY, Kohl’s Q2, Marshalls H1, Origin Energy FY, Rank Group FY

Friday

• Canada, month-to-month retail trade figures

• Germany, month-to-month PPI figures for industrial merchandise

• Japan, July CPI figures

• UK, GfK client confidence survey, ONS July retail gross sales information and month-to-month trade figures

• Results: Deere & Company Q3, Kingspan H1, Standard Bank H1

World occasions

Finally, right here is a rundown of different occasions and milestones this week.

Monday

• Afghanistan, first anniversary since the Taliban seized again energy

• France, Italy, Spain: Assumption Day public vacation

• India, Independence Day celebrations on the seventy fifth anniversary of the tip of British rule

• Japan, 77th anniversary of Japan’s give up and the tip of the second world conflict. Emperor Naruhito, empress Masako and prime minister Yoshihide Suga attend a commemorative ceremony on the Budokan stadium in Tokyo.

• UK, additional industrial motion from legal barristers in England and Wales, who’ve been placing over authorized support funding. Also, greater than 500 Unite members at Liverpool’s container ports will shut their poll for strike motion in a dispute over pay and circumstances.

Tuesday

• Bahamas, leaders of the Caribbean nations meet for a two-day convention on the Baha Mar resort to debate the area’s method to the COP27 local weather talks in Egypt in November

• US, the forty fifth anniversary of the loss of life of Elvis Presley at his dwelling in Memphis

Wednesday

• Belgium, Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg meets Kosovo’s prime minister Albin Kurti in Brussels amid rising tensions between Kosovo and Serbia. A day later, Kurti is because of meet Serbian president Aleksandr Vucic.

• Indonesia, Independence Day nationwide vacation

• Norway, the nation’s oil wealth fund, one of many world’s largest funds, experiences half-year figures at Arendalsuka

• US, former vice-president Mike Pence speaks at Politics & Eggs on the New Hampshire Institute of Politics

Thursday

• UK, A-level and vocational examination outcomes — together with the brand new T-Level technical {qualifications} — for college college students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Plus, about 40,000 members of the Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT), Unite and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) unions to stage nationwide practice strike over pay and redundancies points.

• US, Nasa’s Space Launch System will likely be rolled out to Launch Pad 39B on the Kennedy Space Center forward of the Artemis 1 moon mission.

Friday

• Montenegro, no-confidence vote anticipated on the minority authorities led by prime minister Dritan Abazović after he signed a controversial agreement with the highly effective Serbian Orthodox Church, opposed by human rights activists and pro-western events

• UK, about 10,000 members of the RMT union employed by Transport for London, 400 Overground employees working at Arriva Rail London and greater than 1,600 bus drivers, primarily in west London, will strike in separate disputes over jobs and pay. Also, Welsh Water imposes its first hosepipe ban for Pembrokeshire since 1976 because of the arid climate circumstances.

Saturday

• Hungary, State Foundation Day public vacation celebrated with fireworks on the banks of the River Danube

• UK, the RMT, Unite and the TSSA union members will maintain one other day of strike motion on the nationwide railways over pay and redundancies points. Plus, a demonstration is deliberate in London calling for an early basic election.

Sunday

• Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz begins a state go to to Canada

• US, Hawaii Statehood Day commemorating its institution because the fiftieth state admitted into the union in 1959

• UK, members of the Unite union at Britain’s largest container port, Felixstowe, start strike motion in a dispute over pay