Live News Updates: According to train operator, five train stations in Ukraine were attacked

An aerial view of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv. City damaged by shelling © AFP via Getty Images

The Ukraine conflict is a certainty of news events this week, but activity will be largely off the diary over the next seven days – with the exception of events like the reopening of the British embassy in Kyiv. Ironically, there is a long list of other war anniversaries this week – from Anzac Day on Monday to Vietnam’s Liberation Day commemoration on Saturday. A reminder that peace was an unattainable dream for this world in modern times.

At the same time we are in a kind of small holiday season. Easter, whether Orthodox or not, is over and the coming Sunday heralds the various May Day celebrations around the world.

On Sunday night, Emmanuel Macron defeated Marine Le Pen in France’s presidential election, with the incumbent’s far-right rival giving up shortly after initial projections that he received more than 58 percent of the vote. Follow the Financial Times analysis this week.

Descendants of Australian soldiers hold a wreath-laying ceremony. This year marks the 107th anniversary of the Gallipoli conflict © REUTERS

economic data

It’s quite a busy week for economic news with inflation numbers for France, Germany and Eurozone countries as well as first quarter GDP estimates for Eurozone, US, Korea, France, Germany, Italy and Spain and a Bank of Japan interest rate decision .

The conflict in Ukraine has immediate and longer-term implications for the global economy, the IMF stressed last week when it lowered growth forecasts for numerous countries.

The new world (dis)order was described by Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, chief economist at the IMF, in an interview with the FT. “As we become a multi-block world, we will have to undo many of the integrated economies that we have built and supply chains that we have built. . . and build something else that’s narrower [and] smaller scale,” he said.

“There will be adjustment costs [and] there will be efficiencies and that could lead to an increase in unit costs because things aren’t being done as efficiently as before.”

company

It’s going to be a corporate earnings geek week this week. Big Tech had a good pandemic. The question now is whether Meta, Alphabet, Amazon.com, Microsoft, or Spotify can maintain their strong growth rates. Investors are no doubt nervous after last week’s shocking Netflix subscriber drop, although, as noted, there’s a difference between a company focused solely on streaming TV and movie shows and other tech companies.

Golden child Apple may now feel like a Hollywood player after winning the top prize at the Oscars, but its investors are concerned about its ability to ship new tech kits amid the lockdown wave at several of its Chinese manufacturing hubs. The next iPhone model isn’t going to make itself, you know. Morgan Stanley analysts believe that Wall Street consensus forecasts for the June quarter of $86.7 billion (up 6 percent year-on-year) are reasonable given CEO Tim Cook’s typically cautious approach to forecasts. “appear high”.

Read the calendar for the rest of the week ahead here