Get Set for a Scary Week Ahead!

This week marks a spooky week with Halloween on Tuesday and All Saint’s on Wednesday, the day of the dead, a national holiday in Spain where traditionally families spend time visiting those no longer in the physical world to spend time with their permanent resting place in cemeteries.

The week could also start with a scare as the leading inflation indicators for October and the Bank of Spain’s Financial Stability report are the main macro references for this Monday in Spain.

We will start the week with the Institute of National Statistics (INE) publishing the leading indicators of the CPI and harmonised CPI for October, the export and import price indices of industrial products for September, and the occupancy survey in tourist accommodation and prices for September.

Plus, the Bank of Spain publishes the autumn Financial Stability report.

The week also begins with the publication of CPI and GDP figures for Germany, as well as consumer confidence in the eurozone. The lower impact of the base effect and the rebound in energy prices in recent weeks are expected to boost inflation rates slightly.

At the business level, companies such as Unicaja, Iberpapel, Viscofán and Elecnor present their quarterly results. Throughout the week, large companies such as HSBC, BP, Lufthansa, Novo Nordisk, Zalando, ING and BMW will publish their profits between July and September.

We will also see Spanish transport infrastructure companies Ferrovial and Aena publish results.

On Tuesday, the evolution of prices and the advance GDP of the Eurozone will be published, in addition to various macroeconomic references from France, Germany and Spain, which will show the degree of growth or slowdown and the prospects for the monetary union.

The week will end with the publication of indicators related to the labour market. Specifically, on Thursday the unemployment rate in Germany will be announced and on Friday those of Spain and Italy.

In the UK this week, interest my “ramp up”, as they used to say in the daily briefings, in the Covid-19 enquiry, criticised last week for still not providing a sign language interpreter a year after one was first requested, but this week sees high-profile figures from Boris Johnson’s government giving evidence, including Johnson’s former private secretary, Martin ‘Party Marty’ Reynolds, whose emails lay at the centre of the Partygate scandal.

Tuesday might be a make-or-break day for information though as former Johnson ally turned “trolley” critic Dominic Cummings might well expose more of the inner workings (or not) of the Johnson-led government during the party-filled crisis.

Former ethics chief Helen MacNamara – who was fined by Met Police over the Downing Street parties – appears on Wednesday, followed on Thursday by former NHS England CEO Simon Stevens.

The plan to house unprocessed asylum seekers in former RAF bases at Wethersfield and Scampton brings the Home Office back to court this week, as the latest plan by Suella Braverman’s department is scrutinised by the High Court, whilst the even more controversial Rwanda plan decision is pending.

Considering the location was famed by brilliant humans with amazing analytical minds, it seems somewhat ironic that the UK hosts the Global Summit on Artificial Intelligence at Bletchley Park on Wednesday and Thursday. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s hopes to tout the UK as a global leader in AI safety regulation, but like many of his other hopes, may be undermined by talk of high-profile European leaders planning to skip the invites.

There are quite a lot of high-profile court cases throughout the week in the UK, including the sentencing of a teen accused of 22 counts of rape, another teen accused of sharing bomb making instructions, sentencing for the abuse of girls in Rochdale, Andrew Tate, and Tory MP Bob Stewart.

On the global scale, China assumes presidency of UN Security Council, the week marks just one year until the US presidential elections, and in out-of-this-world news, Virgin Galactic launches their fifth commercial spaceflight.

Finally, other days of note this week, include World Vegan Day on Wednesday, which is also World Ballet Day, it’s Bonfire Night / Guy Fawkes at the weekend, and as we start November, it is a chance for the men of the world to do their bit for raising awareness of men’s health issues including cancer and suicide, by not shaving, as the month kicks off the annual Movember campaign.