A peak week for Big Tech

Welcome to the working week.

Holiday season might be subdued this year because of coronavirus, but earnings season feels much the same as ever and this week we are in full swing with a particular focus on tech and banking companies. More of that below.

July 2021 has shaped up as rocket month. But we’re into the last week. After the battle of the billionaires, it is the turn of governments this week, with the EU-backed Ariane 5 returning to flight after being grounded. Success will be greeted with relief — the European project has been struggling of late to maintain its position as a leader in space exploration — and perhaps talk about moving forward with Ariane 6.

There is another race other than space: the one to get the world vaccinated against Covid-19. Monday is the deadline set by a Brussels court for AstraZeneca to meet its contractual obligations to supply the first 15m of the 50m vaccines ordered by the EU. AstraZeneca will have to pay €10 per dose not delivered. It will not be the end of the affair, as this analysis from the time of the court ruling explains.

At the end of this week Simon Stevens will step down as chief executive of the NHS in England, which I mention because of his Lunch with the FT this weekend and this revelatory scoop we had on Friday.

Before running through the company reports, I must say a big thank you to all of you who emailed me — at jonathan.moules@ft.com — with your kind comments about the new format of The Week Ahead. Rishi Zaveri, founder of postgraduate loan provider Lendwise, who claims to have been an FT reader “since the beginning of time” said he appreciates the “personality and character”. If you want a bit more, or less, do drop me a line.

Companies

Coronavirus has put paid to a lot of dinner parties this year, but not the number one topic of conversation at these indoor gatherings: moving house. Expect to hear more about this in both economic data announcements and company reports this week.

A boom in property sales is seen as the one bright spot for retail banks NatWest and Lloyds. Analysts will look to see whether increased mortgage volume is enough to offset the slump in consumer borrowing and new business lending.

Spanish banking giant Santander will hope to benefit from an improved performance in the UK, where it is a large mortgage lender, while a booming used car market should benefit its business in the US and help offset weakness in other countries. The bank, which has traditionally focused on retail and business lending, will also be hoping to demonstrate further progress in expanding its investment banking arm.

Earlier this month, Wall Street reported near-record banking revenues amid a boom in M&A, private-equity takeovers and capital markets issuance. On Wednesday, it is the turn of their European peers — Barclays and Deutsche Bank — which are expected to largely follow suit. Both have had a “good” pandemic, in the sense that lingering questions about the viability of their much-maligned investment banking arms have been temporarily silenced as profits surged in turbulent markets.

Credit Suisse is an unhappier tale. The Swiss lender is in crisis after suffering two scandals in quick succession: the closure of $10bn of funds linked to Greensill Capital and the collapse of Archegos Capital, which caused $5.5bn in losses. On Thursday, all eyes will be on new chair António Horta-Osório, tasked with guiding the ailing 165-year-old bank through the chaos.

The other big theme of this week’s reporting calendar will be technology companies. The latest quarterly earnings from Big Tech will underline an uncomfortable truth for regulators around the world looking to clip their wings: as they cash in on their digital dominance coming out of the pandemic, the leading US tech companies are registering their strongest growth rates for years.

Wall Street is expecting Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet and Facebook to report a combined $72bn jump in revenue for the second quarter compared with the same period a year before. That is a stunning 30 per cent increase. It may not quite match the breakout first quarter of this year, when Apple alone reported a 54 per cent increase in sales on the back of its first 5G iPhone, but it will still put other industries in the shade.

One likely highlight from the latest earnings reports: Google and Facebook’s advertising businesses are forecast to show a 50 per cent leap in revenue, underlining their dominance of internet advertising at a time when businesses of all types have become far more reliant on digital channels to reach their customers.

Economic data

There is a busy data schedule, focused on consumer confidence, house prices and unemployment data. In the UK, we’ll get some detail on the impact of the coronavirus job retention schemes from data published by the tax authority HMRC.

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

• Tesla Q2

• Hasbro Q2

• Heathrow Airport H1

• LVMH H1

• Michelin H1

• Philips Electronics Q2

• Ryanair Q1

• Tata Motors Q2

• Lockheed Martin Q2

Tuesday

• US, Federal Housing Finance Agency publishes monthly house price index

• UK, Office for National Statistics publishes figures for trade in services

• 3M Q2

• AMD Q2

• Apple Computer Q3

• Dassault Systèmes Q2

• Deutsche Boerse Q2

• Croda International H1

• Alphabet H1

• JetBlue Q2

• Kering H1

• Mitsubishi Motors Q1

• Mondelēz International Q2

• Starbucks Q3

• Telecom Italia Q2

• Virgin Money Q3 trading update

• Vodafone AGM

• Mattel Q2

• General Electric Q2

• UPS Q2

• Raytheon Q2

• Microsoft Q4

• Visa Q3

Wednesday

• Canada, monthly consumer price index

• France, Insee consumer confidence figures

• Facebook Q2

• Banco Santander Q2

• Barclays H1

• BASF Q2

• British American Tobacco H1

• Deutsche Bank Q2

• Fresnillo H1 production report

• GlaxoSmithKline Q2

• ITV H1

• Man Group H1

• McDonald’s Q2

• Nissan Motor Q1

• Rio Tinto H1

• Spotify Q2

• Vivendi H1

• OMV Q2

• Ford Motor Company Q2

• Pfizer Q2

• Boeing Q2

• Bristol-Myers Squibb Q2

• Moody’s Q2

Thursday

• US, Q2 GDP

• Germany, monthly unemployment figures

• UK, HMRC coronavirus job retention scheme statistics

• Airbus H1

• Amazon Q2

• Anglo American H1

• Anheuser-Busch InBev H1

• ArcelorMittal H1

• BAE Systems H1

• Banco Sabadell Q2

• BT Group Q1

• Carrefour H1

• Co-operative Bank H1

• Comcast Q2

• Credit Suisse Q2

• Daiwa Securities Group Q1

• Danone H1

• Diageo FY

• Enel Q2

• Evraz Q2

• JCDecaux H1

• Lloyds Banking Group H1

• Mastercard Q2

• Mediobanca Q2

• Merck & Co Q2

• National Express H1

• Nestle H1

• Northrop Grumman Q2

• Orange H1

• Panasonic Q1

• Pinterest Q1

• Rentokil H1

• Repsol Q2

• Royal Dutch Shell Q2

• Saint-Gobain H1

• Samsung Q2

• Sanofi-Aventis Q2

• Schroders H1

• Securitas H1

• Smith & Nephew Q2

• Tate & Lyle AGM

• Telefónica H1

• The Hershey Company Q2

• Total Q2

• Veolia H1

• Volkswagen H1

Friday

• EU, Eurostat flash estimate of euro area inflation

• EU, Eurozone unemployment data

• Japan, Industrial production figures

• UK, Nationwide monthly house price data

• Canada, Monthly GDP figures

• Air France-KLM H1

• Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) Q2

• Berkshire Hathaway Q2

• BNP Paribas Q2

• Caterpillar Q2

• Chevron Q2

• Colgate-Palmolive Q2

• Engie Q2

• Eni Q2

• ExxonMobil Q2

• Glencore H1 production report

• Hermes H1

• International Airlines Group (IAG) H1

• LafargeHolcim H1

• Mazda Motor Q1

• NatWest H1

• Nomura Q1

• Pearson H1

• Procter & Gamble Q4

• Renault Q2

• UniCredit H1

World events

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

Monday

• EU, first deadline for AstraZeneca to deliver EU’s Covid-19 vaccine order

• Cuba, Revolution Day

Tuesday

• EU, Ariane 5 launch

• UK, Booker Prize longlist announced

• UK, Glorious Goodwood horseracing event starts at the Goodwood racecourse near Chichester

• Monaco, 45th annual World Backgammon Championship

Wednesday

• Peru, 200th anniversary of independence

Thursday

• UK, 40 years since the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer

Friday

• US, House of Representatives rises for the summer recess

• UK, first night of the Proms