Hello and welcome to the working week.

Do you fancy a flutter? Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi does, given her bet that her dynamism and novelty — not least because she is the country’s first female premier — will convince voters to back her Liberal Democratic Party as a force for change in this week’s election.

The snap poll, called less than a fortnight ago, has shaken up the markets. The suddenness of what will be Japan’s shortest general election campaign, combined with concerns that a clear LDP majority will become a mandate for fiscal expansion, has triggered a series of huge sell-offs in long-dated Japanese government bonds.

The election is set to hinge on the votes of those “frugal families” trying to make ends meet in an economy suddenly jolted by inflation and rising interest rates. For some mood music, Tokyo bureau chief Leo Lewis has written a colourful profile of Takaichi’s campaigning style. The circus comes to a head when the country goes to the polls on Sunday.

A very different election will be taking place on the same day in Thailand. The south-east Asian nation is grappling with political instability, a slowing economy, higher US tariffs, flooding in the south of the country and a border conflict with Cambodia. The incumbent Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul is a staunch backer of Thailand’s conservative military and royalist establishment, but has been in power for just three months at the helm of a minority government.

It’s another busy week for interest rate setters. The European Central Bank’s governing council and the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee will both vote on interest rates. The ECB is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged at 2 per cent at its first meeting of 2026, supported by last week’s news that the Eurozone economy unexpectedly grew by 0.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2025.

The main concern in London is whether inflation’s expected return to target is sustainable or not. The BoE believes 2 per cent inflation will arrive in April or May and is expected to hold rates until that moment comes. This week it will also update its estimate of trend productivity growth, days after the revelation that UK productivity might have at last started staging a rebound to levels last seen before the financial crisis.

The biennial Singapore Airshow kicks off next week against a backdrop of geopolitical tensions, questions over America’s defence commitment to the wider region and persistent industrial challenges. Exhibitors will showcase the latest in drones and fighter jets, as well as commercial aircraft from Boeing and Airbus. 

The burgeoning corporate results list over the next few days includes the tech titan Amazon.com, notable for current headcount cutting measures and troubles with trying real world retail on the high street as much as it is for following the Big Tech trend of investment in AI. More details on that and other items below.

One more thing . . . 

This week is set to end on a major sporting contest crescendo with the rugby Six Nations tournament and American football’s Super Bowl final, but there is particular joy for those of us who thrill at the thought of launching oneself down a snow white hill on two planks or indeed watching a bit of curling. Friday brings the opening ceremony of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, heralding a fortnight of crazy cold weather pursuits centred around the small Italian alpine ski resort of Cortina d’Ampezzo, high in the Dolomites. There will be snow. Thanks to the US administration, there will also be ICE.

Can politics ever be separate from Olympic sporting events? Do you prefer the Super Bowl? Email me at jonathan.moules@ft.com or, if you are reading this from your inbox, hit reply. And have a good week.

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

• AstraZeneca shares are expected to commence trading on the New York Stock Exchange today

• Rebecca Jackson, executive director for authorisations, regulatory technology & international supervision (Artis) at the Bank of England, to speak at an intraday risk management and principal trading event hosted by Association of Foreign Banks

• Canada, China, Eurozone, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, UK, US: S&P Global manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) data

• Japan: summary of opinions from last rate setting meeting

• UK: Nationwide January House Price Index

• Results: Central Japan Railway Q3, Disney Q1, East Japan Railway Q3, IDEXX Laboratories Q4/FY, Julius Baer FY, Revvity Q4/FY, TDK Q3, Tyson Foods Q1

Tuesday

• Australia: interest rate decision

• EU: Euro area Bank Lending Survey

• US: December Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (Jolts) data

• Results: Advanced Micro Devices Q4/FY, AG Barr trading statement, Akzo Nobel Q4/FY, Alfa Laval Q4/FY, Ametek Q4, Amgen Q4/FY, Archer Daniels Midland Q4/FY, Emerson Electric Q1, Enphase Energy Q4/FY, Ball Corp Q4/FY, Chipotle Mexican Grill Q4/FY, Clorox Q2, Electronic Arts Q3, Filtronic HY, Gartner Q4/FY, Grainger Q4/FY, Hubbell Q4/FY, IAC Q4/FY, Jacobs Solutions Q1, Kinnevik FY, LATAM Airlines Q4/FY, LBG Media FY, Match Q4/FY, Merck & Co Q4/FY, Mitsubishi Electric Q3, Mondelez International Q4/FY, Nintendo Q3/9M, Paypal Q4/FY, PepsiCo Q4/FY, Pfizer Q4/FY, Prudential Financial Q4/FY, Publicis Groupe FY, Skyworks Solutions Q1, Take-Two Interactive Software Q3, Teradyne Q4/FY, West Japan Railway Q3, Willis Towers Watson Q4/FY

Wednesday

• Belgium: FT Live’s International Energy Policy Summit, in person at the Steigenberger Hotel, Brussels, and online. Register for free here

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

• EU: Euro area seasonally adjusted harmonised indices of consumer prices (HICP) flash inflation rate estimate

• UK: International Reserves data

• Results: AbbVie Q4/FY, Alphabet Q4/FY, Arm Holdings Q3, Boston Scientific Q4/FY, CDW Q4/FY, Credit Agricole FY, DCC Q3 trading statement, DNB Bank Q4/FY, Eli Lilly & Co Q4/FY, Equifax Q4/FY, Equinor Q4/FY, Fox Corp Q2, GSK Q4/FY, Handelsbanken FY, Infineon Technologies Q1, Johnson Controls Q1, McKesson Q3, MediaTek Q4/FY, Novartis Q4/FY, Novo Nordisk FY, OMV Q4/FY, Panasonic Q3, Phillips 66 Q4/FY, PTC Q1, Qualcomm Q1, Rohm Q3, Santander Q4/FY, Securitas FY, Snap Q4/FY, SSE Q3 trading statement, Stanley Black & Decker Q4/FY, Sumitomo Q3, T Rowe Price Q4/FY, Uber Technologies Q4/FY, UBS Q4/FY, Watches of Switzerland Q3 trading update, YouGov HY trading statement, Yum! Brands Q4/FY

Thursday

• Takeover Panel deadline for Rio Tinto to either announce a firm intent ion to make an offer for Glencore or announce that it does not intend to make an offer.

• Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem gives a speech on “The Forces Reshaping Canada’s Economy in 2026” at the Empire Club of Canada in Toronto.

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

• EU: European Central Bank’s interest rate announcement

• Germany: December manufacturing orders

• UK: Bank of England’s interest rate announcement

• Results: Allstate Q4/FY, Amazon.com Q4/FY, Anglo American Q4 production report, ArcelorMittal Q4/FY, Barrick Mining Q4/FY, BBVA Q4/FY, BNP Paribas FY, Bristol Myers Squibb Q4/FY, BT Q3 trading update, Cardinal Health Q2, Cigna Q4/FY, Compass Q1 trading update at AGM, ConocoPhillips Q4/FY, Cummins Q4/FY, Equity Residential Q4/FY, Estee Lauder Q2, Gen Digital Q3, Hershey Q4/FY, Kao FY, KKR Q4/FY, Maersk FY, MetLife Q4/FY, News Corp Q2, Nikon Q3, Nippon Steel Q3, NOV Q4/FY, NTT Q3/9M, O’Reilly Automotive Q4/FY, Reddit Q4/FY, Shell Q4/FY, Snap-On Q4/FY, Sony Q3, Steris Q3, Suzuki Motor Q3, Thomson Reuters Q4/FY, VeriSign Q4/FY, VINCI FY, Vodafone Q3 trading update

Friday

• UK: Halifax January House Price Index. Also, Office for National Statistics public service productivity figures for July to September 2025

• US: January employment report

• Results: Centene Q4/FY, KDDI Q3, Ørsted FY, Philip Morris Q4/FY, Skanska FY, Societe Generale Q4/FY, Toyota Q3, Unum Q4/FY

World events

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

Monday

• China: Uruguay President Yamandu Orsi continues a state visit to China, running until Saturday. China is Uruguay’s largest trading partner with exports including beef, soy and wool. Uruguay regularly has trade surpluses with China

• US: Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, where Phil the groundhog makes his prediction on how long winter will last.

Tuesday

• Singapore: 10th Singapore Airshow begins at the Changi Exhibition Centre, continuing until Sunday

• US: Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights examines the competitive impact of the proposed Netflix and Warner Brothers deal

Wednesday

• World Cancer Day

• US: sentencing of Ryan Routh, the man convicted of attempted assassination of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump in September 2024 at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. An earlier assassination attempt, when Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire at a Pennsylvania rally in July 2024, resulted in Crooks being killed by a secret service sniper

• France: 2026 Six Nations rugby tournament begins with France playing Ireland at the Stade de France in Paris

• Japan: 17th East Asia Conference on Competition Law and Policy, a two-day event hosted by Asian Development Bank Institute, begins in Tokyo

• US: 74th National Prayer Breakfast, bringing together President Donald Trump and political leaders from the Republican and Democrat parties in Washington

Friday

• Italy: opening ceremony for the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games

• US: the earliest date pencilled in for Nasa to launch three American astronauts and a Canadian from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on the first crewed lunar voyage in over 50 years. The 10-day flight around the moon and back will mark the second mission of Artemis, the successor to the Apollo programme of the cold war era. A moon landing is the goal of the next Artemis mission

Saturday

Sunday

• Japan: general election

• Thailand: general election

• US: Super Bowl LX, when the New England Patriots will go into battle against the Seattle Seahawks at the Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California

• US: the earliest date pencilled in for Nasa to launch three American astronauts and a Canadian from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on the first crewed lunar voyage in over 50 years. The 10-day flight around the moon and back will mark the second mission of Artemis, the successor to the Apollo programme of the cold war era. A moon landing is the goal of the next Artemis mission