Europe prepares to anoint new leaders as it marks VE Day

Hello and welcome to the working week.

It’s anointment time. Barring last-minute blow-ups, Friedrich Merz will be confirmed as chancellor by the German parliament on Tuesday, following a press conference a day earlier to rubber stamp the coalition deal the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party leader has concluded with the Social Democratic party (SPD).

Merz’s cabinet nominations, including Katherina Reiche, a senior executive at German energy group Eon, to run the economy ministry, show an impatience to get on and fix the economic and political problems facing the country. The FT’s Person in the News slot, written before Merz’s election victory, provides a handy profile of the country’s new leader.

Next up, conclave. The secretive meeting of 135 Catholic cardinals starts on Wednesday in the Sistine Chapel — a rather more inspiring venue to cast votes than the school halls and community centres that many of us are used to. Kevin Farrell, the man leading the conclave, has been lauded for being “very practical”, which in current times feels like high praise indeed. The next pope will take over at an interesting time for the Catholic Church and, aside from the politics and the theology, there will be some tricky financial challenges ahead, as my colleagues explain here.

It’s the 80th anniversary of VE Day on Thursday, which would be a unanimous celebration of liberty if it weren’t for the small matter of Russia’s incursions in Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin has called a 72-hour ceasefire, which would just happen to make things all nice and peachy for his Victory Day commemorations in Moscow, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is having none of it. The cloud of conflict in Europe will hang heavy over the other end of war celebrations.

Enjoy your last call on Skype, the pioneering Nordic video-calling service, bought by Microsoft 14 years ago, which will be turned off on Monday. The US Big Tech group, which has done well during Trump’s first term, wants us all to instead make Teams calls. Cue soul searching about the failure of European tech start-ups. Time to read that Lunch with the FT at the table with Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström.

Corporate news will flow freely this week as we canter further through the first-quarter earnings season. Trump tariffs will be a talking point as some big car manufacturers (Toyota, Ford and BMW) report numbers. Travel trends will be another strong theme, with IAG, Trainline, Marriott and IHG all reporting over the coming days. More details below.

The run of economic data reports this week will be punctuated with interest rate decisions by the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England. Want to get a better understanding of monetary policy in the Trump era? Join FT economics newsletter writer Chris Giles and his Monetary Policy Radar colleagues on Wednesday for a Q&A on how central banks should navigate the new world order. You can leave your questions in the comments section here.

One more thing . . . 

If you are in Washington this Saturday, do not miss the American edition of the FT Weekend Festival, celebrating my favourite FT days of the week. Speakers include Pink’un wine doyen Jancis Robinson, SkyBridge founder Anthony Scaramucci, author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and a clutch of FT political, business and economics columnists. Full details here.

And if you want to know what else to do in the US capital next weekend, read the FT Globetrotter guide.

What are your plans for the next seven days? Am I missing anything? 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

• Microsoft closes Skype, the pioneering video-calling service it acquired for $8.5bn 14 years ago

• Milken Global Conference continues in Los Angeles. US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent is among the listed speakers over the four-day event

• Canada, US: S&P Global services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) data

• China: Labor Day holiday continues. Financial markets closed

• Japan: Children’s Day. Financial markets closed

• Turkey: April consumer price index (CPI) and producer price index (PPI) inflation rate data

• South Korea: Birth of the Buddha. Financial markets closed

• UK: Early May bank holiday. Financial markets closed

• US: Conference Board monthly employment index

• Results: Clorox Q3, CRH Q1, Cummins Q1, Ford Motor Company Q1, IAC Q1, Loews Q1, Mattel Q1, ON Semiconductor Q1, Tyson Foods Q2, Westpac HY

Tuesday

• China, Eurozone, France, Germany, India, Italy, UK: S&P Global services PMI data

• France: INSEE March industrial production index

• Japan: Greenery Day public holiday. Financial markets closed

• South Korea: Children’s Day. Financial markets closed

• UK: April international reserves data

• US: March goods and services trade figures

• Results: Archer Daniels Midland Q1, Arista Networks Q1, AXA Q1, Continental Q1, Diamondback Energy Q1, Duke Energy Q1, Electronic Arts Q4/FY, Embraer Q1, Fortune Brands Innovations Q1, Gartner Q1, Geberit Q1, Hugo Boss Q1, IWG Q1, IQVIA Q1, Leidos Q1, Marriott Q1, Philips Q1, Telenor Q1, Williams Q1

Wednesday

• Eurozone, France, Germany, Italy, UK: S&P Global/HCOB construction PMI data

• EU: March retail trade figures

• Germany: March industrial orders data

• Japan: au Jibun Bank services PMI data

• US: Federal Open Market Committee interest rate announcement

• Results: Ahold Delhaize Q1, Arm Holdings Q4/FY, Axon Enterprise Q1, BMW Q1, Bunge Q1, Card Factory FY, Carr’s Group HY, CDW Q1, Disney Q2, DoorDash Q1, Fortis Q1, Flutter Entertainment Q1, Johnson Controls Q2, Legrand Q1, National Australia Bank HY, Pandora Q1, Pitney Bowes Q1, RHI Magnesita Q1 trading update, Skanska Q1, Smiths News HY, Trainline FY, Tripadvisor Q1, Uber Q1, Vistra Q1, Vonovia Q1, JD Wetherspoon Q3 trading statement, Wolters Kluwer Q1

Thursday

• Maria Ramos becomes Standard Chartered chair, succeeding José Viñals who retires at the conclusion of the company’s annual meeting

• Germany: March foreign trade figures

• Japan: minutes of the March rate-setting meeting published

• UK: Bank of England interest rate announcement and meeting minutes published. Also, Halifax House Price Index

• Results: Adecco Q1, Akamai Q1, Anheuser-Busch InBev Q1, ANZ HY, Balfour Beatty AGM and trading statement, Brookfield Q1, ConocoPhillips Q1, Enel Q1, Expedia Q1, Federal Realty Investment Trust Q1, Grafton AGM and trading update, Heidelberg Materials Q1, Helios Towers Q1, Henkel Q1, HgCapital Trust Q1, IMI Q1 trading update, Infineon Q2, InterContinental Hotels Group Q1, Lyft Q1, Match Group Q1, Mondi Q1 trading update, News Corp Q3, Next Q1 trading statement, Nikon FY, Nintendo FY, Paramount Q1, Pinterest Q1, Puma Q1, Rathbones AGM and trading update, Renishaw trading statement, Swisscom Q1, TBC Bank Q1, Toyota FY, Viatris Q1, Warner Bros Discovery Q1, Zurich Insurance Q1

Friday

• Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey gives the keynote address at the Reykjavik economic conference 2025, hosted by Northwestern University and the Central Bank of Iceland

• Canada: April labour market figures

• China: April trade figures

• Results: Commerzbank Q1, IAG Q1, Macquarie FY, Nippon Steel Q4, Nippon Telegraph & Telephone FY, Panasonic FY, Rightmove AGM and trading update

World events

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

Monday

• France: rail passengers are set to be hit by industrial action over the early May public holiday. The CGT-Cheminots, SNCF’s largest union, has called for an indefinite strike starting today, pushing for better pay for drivers

• Italy: 58th annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank’s board of governors continues in Milan, the first time Italy is hosting the event

• UK: Members of the armed forces will march from Parliament Square, kicking off a week of 80th VE Day anniversary events, including a recitation of Winston Churchill’s victory speech as Big Ben strikes midday, and a military fly-past over central London

• US: The Costume Institute Benefit, aka the Met Ball, where celebrities parade in front of the cameras, takes place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Separately, the 109th annual Pulitzer Prize winners and nominated finalists are announced online for prizes in journalism, drama, letters and music

Tuesday

• Germany: Friedrich Merz set to be voted as the country’s new chancellor by members of the Bundestag

• Hong Kong: Bun Scrambling Final, part of the annual Cheung Chau Bun Festival, in which contestants attempt to scale a 14-metre tower of buns with luck being promised to the person who successfully retrieves the highest bun

Wednesday

• Denmark: Copenhagen Climate Ministerial, co-hosted by Danish climate, energy and utilities minister Lars Aagaard, COP30 president-designate ambassador André Corrêa do Lago and outgoing COP29 president Mukhtar Babayev. Discussions at the two-day meeting will revolve around implementation of last year’s COP29 plans and the key expectations for this year’s COP30

• Russia: 25th anniversary of Vladimir Putin first being made president

• Vatican City: conclave to elect the next pope begins

Thursday

• VE Day celebrated in various western capitals, 80 years on from the German surrender

• Ukraine: Putin due to begin a 72-hour ceasefire by the Russian army in its war with the neighbouring state

Friday

• EU: Europe Day, marking the 1950 declaration by the Luxembourg-born French statesman Robert Schuman proposing a continent united in solidarity, considered the first step towards the EU being formed

• Italy: 108th annual Giro d’Italia men’s cycling race starts, the first Grand Tour of the season ahead of the Tour de France and Vuelta a España

• Russia: Victory Day, marking the date when German forces surrendered to the Soviet army in 1945, commemorated with a military parade in Moscow’s Red Square and wreath-laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Attendees this year are set to include Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

Saturday

• UK: Republic, the group campaigning to abolish the British monarchy, will stage a rally in London’s Trafalgar Square with artists, activist speakers and a 15ft fully mobile Tyrannosaurus rex called Chuck the Rex

• US: FT Weekend Festival in Washington

Sunday

• Albania: general election

• Australia, Canada, US: Mother’s Day

• South Korea: registration deadline for presidential candidates hoping to run in the June 3 election

• UK: 2025 Bafta Television Awards ceremony in central London

• US: SelectUSA Investment Summit begins, hosted by the commerce department at National Harbor, Maryland, aimed at attracting foreign direct investment