There is a lot going on this week around the world, and we’re not even going to mention Donald Trump! Apart from Thursday, when nothing significant is planned.

All this week, ROADPOL, the European Traffic Police Network, will be carrying out a speed awareness and enforcement campaign, focussing on one of the Fatal 4 most contributing factors in road traffic collisions.

Let us have a look at The Week Ahead, day by day, and if you listen to the audio file, you will also find a list of things to do and local events…

Monday 15 April 2024

Monday is a local holiday in Santa Pola for San Vicente.

The week will begin with the publication of Eurozone industrial production for the month of February, which will maintain its negative year-on-year trend despite the rebound in production recorded in Germany and Italy.

The Bank of Spain publishes the spring Financial Stability report.

The world’s leading power, the USA, will publish the reading of its manufacturing Empire and the evolution of retail sales in March, important for investors to be able to elucidate the level of economic activity in the country.

In the UK, Monday´s news will once again be dominated by the Rwanda Plan, as the Government once again tries to convince those in power it´s a good idea, in the wake of news last week that even Rwanda´s own national airline don´t want to be involved in the plan in case it damages their reputation, and news that most of the houses supposedly allocated in the country are no longer available. The negotiations are expected to last most of the week.

Monday marks five years since the Notre Dam fire.

Tuesday 16 April 2024

Tuesday is a local holiday in the A Coruña town of Ferrol.

On Tuesday the 16th we will have the release of Germany’s ZEW Survey, which could continue to reflect the improvement in expectations for its economy, consistent with the rebound in industrial production, exports, and order recorded in the month of February. This data will be accompanied by the unemployment rate in the United Kingdom, the CPI in Italy and the trade balance in the Eurozone.

In addition, in the USA on Tuesday the 16th we will know the data on construction licences and homes started in March. Coupled with this, we will know the US industrial production, after only advancing 0.1% in monthly terms in February.

Bank of England Governor, Andrew Bailey, is in America, Washington DC to be precise, for the annual IMF/World Bank spring meeting, and on Tuesday he will be armed with the monthly statistics from the ONS on employment and wages, which will then be followed by the release of the IMF’s annual World Economic Outlook and its latest forecasts for UK growth (or decline).

In Wales, Vaughan Gething takes part in his first FMQs.

Wednesday 17 April 2024

Wednesday is a local holiday in Seville.

The focus of investors’ attention will be on Wednesday with the publication of the final Eurozone CPI data for March. Being fundamental to be able to analyse the next movements of the ECB, after its decision this month to keep the official interest rates unchanged.

Specifically, investors expect the ECB to begin the process of easing its monetary policy at its next meeting in June, with a 25 bp reduction in reference interest rates.

In America, investors will focus their attention on Wednesday on the Fed’s Beige book, which will predictably advance current economic trends and the possible challenges that the main world power is facing.

In Spain, the INE publishes birth data.

Back in the UK, inflation data for March are released and no doubt Rishi Sunak is hoping for a pre-election boost if last month’s bigger-than-expected fall is repeated.

Wednesday marks the 100-day countdown start for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Thursday 18 April 2024

Thursday seems to be taking a day off work this week, as there is hardly anything of note planned, but it is International Day for Monuments and Sites, so perhaps we can all be distracted and find and read up on a monument in our town and learn something.

No prizes, it’s just for fun, but your task this week is to locate the monument in the picture. Can you guess where it is? I will give you the answer next week.

Service Sector industry figures are published by the INE in Spain on Thursday, along with competition data.

Friday 19 April 2024

The week will end with the reading of Germany’s PPI, together with UK retail sales and Spain’s trade balance.

Furthermore, the end of the week will feature the Fed’s Philadelphia Survey in the USA, which will complete the analysis of the degree of dynamism of the US economy.

The Active Population figures are published by the INE in Spain.

Business Insights

At the business level, the payment of dividends from Miquel y Costas, Banco Sabadell and Unicaja, and the General Shareholders’ Meetings of Renta Corp and Viscofan will take place, with the latter also presenting results.

In the business field, the publication of results from companies such as M&T Bank, Goldman Sachs, US Bancorp, Abbot, Blackstone, Netflix, American Express, P&G, among others…