Hello and welcome to the last working week of the year,
One of the few things that seems to unite the world is the shared belief in spending the final hours of the year in raucous merriment. But not this year. Several of the big celebrations that mark the change in calendar date have been cancelled due to the rise of the new Omicron coronavirus variant.
This starts — if we count time from the international dateline — with Auckland, where the city’s main firework display will not now happen. The same will be true in Singapore, where the annual display at Marina Bay will not happen for a second consecutive year to minimise mass gatherings and the spread of Covid-19. At the other end of the new year circumnavigation, Los Angeles has cancelled the downtown display in Grand Park.
The German government’s proposals to ban everyone from letting off pyrotechnics in busy public spaces did not go down well in a population that sees the ability to set off fireworks as a basic human right.
London’s main firework display was canned a while back, but the mayor Sadiq Khan has now said that an alternative celebration for up to 6,500 people at Trafalgar Square cannot run either due to surging Covid cases in the UK capital. Instead, Londoners can watch a BBC New Year’s Eve broadcast, “which will showcase our great city to the rest of the world”, Khan said in an official statement. In Scotland, large-scale Hogmanay street parties are being cancelled by order of the Holyrood government.
One thing Covid cannot stop are the political speeches, so the raft of New Year’s Day addresses by world leaders will be going ahead as planned — too many to name individually here.
Covid also cannot prevent Germany assuming the G7 presidency and France taking over the revolving presidency of the EU. In sport, a milestone will be passed as Debbie Hewitt becomes the first woman chair of the English Football Association.
This will be the last Week Ahead for 2021. Next week we will be looking forward to 2022 with a one-off Year Ahead month-by-month guide before normal service resumes on January 9. Have a very happy new year — jonathan.moules@ft.com.
Economic data
The economic and company reports over the next seven days are, understandably, thin gruel, but Japan and the US will report unemployment data and there is a manufacturing PMI from China.
This newsletter is all about alerting you to future events, but I got ahead of myself by announcing Heineken’s full-year results last week — they will not happen until February 16 2022.
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
Japan, monthly employment rate and industrial production figures
Tuesday
UK, Nationwide December house price index
Wednesday
UK, Bank of England capital issuance figures
US, State Street investor confidence index
Vietnam, monthly inflation, trade, industrial output data
Thursday
US, initial jobless claims
Friday
China, manufacturing purchasing managers’ index data
UK, London Stock Exchange closes early for the new year celebrations
World events
Finally, here is a rundown of other events and milestones this week.
Monday
UN marks International Day of Epidemic Preparedness
Tuesday
UK, substitute Boxing Day bank (public) holiday
Wednesday
Ireland, Constitution Day
Germany, the Four Hills Tournament for ski jumping starts in Oberstdorf
Thursday
Anniversary of American astronomer Edwin Hubble announcing his findings on the existence of other galaxies in 1924, revolutionising the field of astronomy
Friday
Second anniversary of Chinese health officials informing the World Health Organization about a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan. A new coronavirus (later called Sars-Cov-2) was eventually identified
Saturday
New Year’s Day
Covid Memorial day marked worldwide
France takes over EU presidency
Germany assumes G7 presidency
Norway takes over presidency of UN Security Council
UK, Debbie Hewitt becomes the first woman chair of the Football Association in its 157-year history
US, New York City Mayor Eric Adams takes up office
US to end tariffs on EU steel products. In return, the EU cancelled a planned increase in retaliatory tariffs due to come into force on December 1
Sunday
English Premier League and Football League transfer window opens, alongside those of several other European leagues
Source: Economy - ft.com
