South Korea elects a president as EU rules on Bulgarian euro entry

Good day and welcome to the working week.

It’s resolution time on various fronts throughout the subsequent seven days. I’ll begin with South Korea, which is able to on Tuesday elect a brand new president at a vital time for Asia’s fourth-largest financial system.

South Korea is wrestling with slowing development whereas being battered by world commerce tensions. The clear frontrunner, in line with the polls, is the 61-year-old leftwinger Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Celebration of Korea. In the meantime, the ruling proper of centre Folks Energy social gathering has fallen into disarray, largely on account of its reluctance to interrupt with disgraced former PPP president Yoon Suk Yeol, a hardline former prosecutor who was impeached midway via his five-year time period and subsequently removed following his ill-fated martial legislation declaration final 12 months.

Whoever triumphs on Tuesday must grapple with a slowing financial system beneath strain from the results of US President Donald Trump’s aggressive commerce insurance policies, in addition to a North Korea emboldened by its rising nuclear arsenal and its blossoming relationship with Vladimir Putin’s Russia. For extra on that, read this.

The Eurozone might be making each financial and political decisions this week. On Wednesday, the European Fee is predicted to publish its long-awaited view on whether or not Bulgaria is able to undertake the euro. Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov is confident of getting the inexperienced mild and making the foreign money authorized tender as quickly as January 1 2026.

The opposite little bit of euro information this week might be from Frankfurt, the place the European Central Financial institution’s rate-setting committee has a call to make. The hawks have been lining as much as urge caution, however a 25 foundation factors minimize is taken as a given, priced in at near 100 per cent likelihood, in line with Reuters. Need to hold updated with rates of interest (and inflation) globally? The FT has a tracker for that.

In UK politics, the selection is extra between weapons and butter as we await the publication of the federal government’s strategic defence evaluate on Monday, which is able to define new threats, the capabilities wanted to deal with them, the state of the British armed forces and the assets out there. The reply to that final query is prone to be not a lot. The general resolution, like the reply to so a lot of life’s fashionable questions it appears, is to go digital.

Some choices are already made, however want backing. With this in thoughts Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is heading to Saskatoon on Monday, hoping to nurture a love-in among the many first ministers of the Canadian provinces and push his “strongest financial system within the G7” ambition.

A key aim on this effort (led by Canada’s minister for transport and inner commerce, and former FT deputy editor, Chrystia Freeland) is to exorcise federal commerce boundaries, estimated to value the financial system $200bn a 12 months, by July 1 (Canada Day). Carney can also be anticipated to stipulate “One Canadian Financial system” laws to quick monitor tasks resembling ports, crucial mineral mines and commerce corridors.

The company outcomes trickle via once more, bulging in the course of the week. It’s the same story for the financial experiences, probably the most notable being US employment figures, the OECD financial outlook and the buying managers’ index (PMI) comparisons between the bigger economies. Extra particulars under.

Yet another factor . . . 

A few of us had been turned on to laptop gaming by Sinclair’s ZX Spectrum. For my Gen Z children, it was the Nintendo Swap. This might be a momentous week for them (and one during which I really feel the era hole yawning ever wider) as Nintendo launches its a lot anticipated next-generation Swap 2 video games console with forecasts of 15mn unit sales within the firm’s present monetary 12 months. The brand new machine guarantees a bigger display screen, upgraded magnetic controllers, referred to as Pleasure-Cons, and a brand new chat perform. The one characteristic I want for them to maintain is the app that permits me to see how a lot time my offspring spend on the gadget after they might need been finding out.

Are you excited a couple of new video games console? Can Nintendo high the communal shout fest that’s Tremendous Smash Bros? Electronic mail me at jonathan.moules@ft.com or, if you’re studying this out of your inbox, hit reply.

Key financial and firm experiences

Here’s a extra full record of what to anticipate by way of firm experiences and financial information this week.

Monday

• US Federal Reserve board member Christopher Waller speaks on the financial outlook on the 2025 Financial institution of Korea Worldwide Convention: Structural Shifts and Financial Coverage, in Seoul

• Catherine Mann, a Financial Coverage Committee member on the Financial institution of England, joins a fireplace chat on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors IF seventy fifth anniversary convention in Washington

• Canada, Eurozone, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, UK, US: S&P World/HCOB/HSBC Might manufacturing buying managers’ index (PMI) information

• China: Dragon Boat Competition vacation (Tuen Ng). Monetary markets closed.

• UK: British Retail Consortium Might Financial Monitor report and Nationwide Might Home Value Index

• Outcomes: The Campbell’s Firm Q3, Sirius Actual Property FY

Tuesday

• Financial institution of Japan governor Kazuo Ueda provides a speech on the Naigai Josei Chosa Kai assembly in Japan.

• Sarah Hunter, assistant governor (financial) on the Reserve Financial institution of Australia provides a keynote speech on the Financial Society of Australia Queensland Enterprise Lunch in Brisbane

• De La Rue shareholders to vote on the proposed takeover of the corporate by Atlas at a normal assembly. If authorized, the deal will grow to be efficient on July 2

• OECD Financial Outlook

• China: Caixin Might manufacturing PMI information

• EU: flash Might inflation estimate and April unemployment information

• US: April Job Openings and Labor Turnover (Jolts) information

• Outcomes: British American Tobacco HY buying and selling assertion, Chemring HY, CrowdStrike Q1, Greenback Basic Q1, FD Applied sciences FY, Ferguson Q3, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Q2, Pennon FY

Wednesday

• Australia: Q1 GDP estimate

• Canada: rate of interest announcement

• Canada, Eurozone, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, UK, US: S&P World/HCOB/HSBC Might companies PMI information

• UK: Worldwide Reserves information

• US: Beige Guide revealed

• Outcomes: B&M European Worth Retail FY, Descartes Methods Q1, DiscoverIE FY, Greenback Tree Q1, Empiric Scholar Property AGM and Q1 buying and selling assertion, Ninety One FY, Paragon Banking Group HY, Seraphim House Funding Belief Q3, WHSmith buying and selling assertion

Thursday

• Nintendo releases its new Swap 2 video games console, that includes a much bigger display screen and higher graphics than its extremely well-liked predecessor. The corporate is forecasting sales of 15mn within the new product’s first 12 months, regardless of US tariffs

• Econdat’s two-day spring assembly at King’s School London, the place central bankers and researchers will collect to debate the economics concerned in non-traditional information and analytical instruments.

• The CBI Nationwide Enterprise Dinner is held in London, historically addressed by a senior member of the federal government

• China: Caixin Might companies PMI information

• Eurozone, France, Germany, Italy, UK: S&P World/HCOB building PMI information

• EU: European Central Financial institution rate of interest announcement

• Germany: April manufacturing orders information

• UK: Might Choice Maker Panel analysis

• US: April worldwide commerce in items and companies

• Outcomes: Broadcom Q2, Brown-Forman This fall, Ciena Q2, CMC Markets FY, Dr Martens FY, Lululemon Athletica Q1, Mitie FY, PVH Q1, Samsara Q1, Victoria’s Secret Q1, Clever FY, Wizz Air FY, Workspace FY

Friday

• EU: Q1 GDP estimate

• Japan: Consumption Exercise Index

• South Korea: Memorial Day. Monetary markets closed

• UK: Halifax Home Value Index

• US: Might employment report

• Outcomes: ABM Q2

World occasions

Lastly, here’s a rundown of different occasions and milestones this week.

Monday

• Canada: Prime Minister Mark Carney joins the elected heads of the north American nation’s provinces on the Assembly of First Ministers in Saskatoon

• Poland: two-day EU-US Justice and Dwelling Affairs ministerial assembly begins in Warsaw

• UK: authorities publishes its strategic defence evaluate

Tuesday

• Austria: Vienna hosts the Austrian World Summit. The occasion, now in its ninth 12 months, is organised by the Schwarzenegger Local weather Initiative, a physique created by the Austrian-American actor Arnold Schwarzenegger

• South Korea: presidential election

Wednesday

Thursday

• fiftieth anniversary of the UK voting to hitch the Widespread Market, which later turned the EU, in a nationwide referendum. It voted to go away the EU in 2016

• Naksa Day noticed by Palestinians to recognise the “Day of the Setback” in 1967 when Israel received the six-day warfare, taking management of the West Financial institution and Gaza Strip leading to hundreds of Palestinians being displaced

• Belgium: Nato defence ministers assembly in Brussels

• Burundi: parliamentary and native elections

• UK: begin of the fifth London Design Biennial, showcasing the position of design in fixing challenges. This 12 months’s theme is Floor Reflections

Friday

• Eid al-Adha, the second of the 2 major festivals in Islam, begins this night. Celebrations and observances are usually carried ahead to the three following days, generally known as the Tashreeq days.

Saturday

• France: Roland-Garros French Open 2025 tennis girls’s singles ultimate day in Paris. The boys’s ultimate will happen on Sunday

• UK: thirteenth Liverpool Biennial, Britain’s largest free modern visible arts competition, begins. Occasions will happen throughout town’s public areas, galleries and museums till September 14 beneath the theme Bedrock

Sunday

• Germany: Uefa Nations League ultimate, concluding the fourth version of the worldwide males’s soccer event

• US: 78th Tony Awards for the American theatre trade, introduced in New York’s Radio Metropolis Music Corridor