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Your Sunday UK Briefing: Waiting for Coronation Fever to Rise
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Well hello again. Here’s what we’re talking about heading into an exciting week.
The big day: It's finally here. After 70 years, the coronation of a new British monarch takes place on Saturday. While many don't feel the same affection for 74-year-old King Charles III as they did for his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, chances are the nation will pull off a grand celebration in the end. Andrea Felsted explains the ambivalence that many Brits feel about the event — even though an extra bank holiday is rolled into the package. Americans, at least, plan to live it up, and pubs will also get a boost.
The big test: Thursday is another big day, this time for Rishi Sunak and his Conservatives, as voters turn out to elect thousands of local council seats across England. The Tories' performance in opinion polls seems to have bottomed out — Labour's wide lead has been trimmed by almost half. The elections will given a real-life interim verdict on the new prime minister, six months into his term.
The big blindside: More is likely to come out about former minister Alok Sharma. As Ellen Milligan reports, senior civil servants tried to shield their staff from what they saw as volatile and intimidating behavior by the MP during the height of the Covid pandemic. The reports come as the PM tries to show that his administration isn’t just a throwback to past scandals. Sharma says he’s been “blindsided” by the allegations.
The big strikes: Nurses are preparing for a new walkout starting tonight, even after members of another major health union, the GMB, voted Friday to accept the government’s latest pay offer. The NHS Staff Council, an umbrella labor body, meets Tuesday and the pressure could rise on members of the Royal College of Nursing to finally accept a pay deal.
The big hush: Bank of England officials enter a quiet period before their rate decision on May 11. Both the Fed and the ECB have decisions this week, though, and are expected to raise rates again, even if the end of the hiking cycles may finally be on the horizon.
The big earnings: UK majors BP and Shell report results on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively, at a boom time for Big Oil. In the US, Exxon Mobil and Chevron have already announced profits not seen since oil was almost twice the current price. Another busy week of European earnings includes automakers Volkswagen, Stellantis and BMW. investors are trying to gauge how well car companies weathered high raw-material costs and sluggish economic growth.
The big deal: Will the third time be the charm for Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani’s attempt to buy Manchester United? The Qatari banker submitted a final bid of about £5 billion, which would rank as the largest-ever deal involving a sports franchise. British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe also lodged a final bid by Friday’s deadline, which reports say would put a higher value on the iconic club. It’s unclear how current owners, the Glazer family, will proceed.
ICYM our Big Take: Elections have consequences, and Bloomberg’s Ezra Fieser and Andrea Jaramillo take a deep dive into how recent votes in Latin America that have pushed much of the continent further to the left. It’s a cautionary tale about how wealthy and even middle-class investors in countries like Brazil and Colombia are desperate to find a Plan B as a Socialist wave comes crashing down. They’re sending money abroad at the fastest clip in a decade.
And finally, while a new class of drugs — Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro among them — have been proven effective at helping obese people lose weight, who can actually afford them? Pharma companies and insurance providers are at odds on the topic. Health reporters Robert Langreth and Emma Court join the Big Take podcast to discuss the battle — the outcome of which is a $150 billion question.
Have a great week, and we'll see you after the coronation.
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