Danish officials hope to calm the conversation over Greenland

Hello and welcome to the working week.

To misquote Kermit the Frog, it’s not easy being Greenland. And this week the vast Arctic island, a semi-autonomous territory of the kingdom of Denmark, will get more of a sense of how bad it can get when you find yourself the object of an avaricious US president’s eye.

The main set-piece event of the next few days will be US secretary of state Marco Rubio’s talks with his counterparts for Denmark and Greenland — very little is being given away about the venue or timing of this event, but it is assumed it will happen either in Washington or Copenhagen, possibly on Wednesday. The sense is that the Danes and Greenlanders want to calm things down, but the Americans do not. Read this to understand more about the options, which will no doubt be referred to in the discussions. If you want to gen up on Greenland’s 34-year-old centre-right Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, click here.

Across the Atlantic, we will be watching court proceedings in Paris as Marine Le Pen seeks to get the conviction against her for misuse of EU funds overturned at an appeal hearing, starting on Tuesday. Emulating the style that has been so effective for Donald Trump and other populist leaders, Le Pen has attacked the “politicisation” of judges who found against her in March, issuing a five-year ban on her standing for election.

Earnings season is once again upon us, and this week it will be the turn of the Wall Street banks. Expectations are high given the amount of M&A activity happening, and as was recently noted by Lex (for premium subscribers) the trading desks at JPMorgan, Citi and Goldman also continue to deliver big revenue gains. Talking of US corporates, the FT is running a survey for our next ranking of the Americas’ fastest-growing companies. Read more here, including details of how to register your business.

The economic data run is gentle but will include inflation data for the US and Germany and the latest monthly GDP estimate for the UK, all of which will be keenly watched by FT reporters. More details below.

One more thing . . .

On the recommendation of Stephen Bush, FT columnist and writer of the Inside Politics newsletter, my Christmas break involved reading Maggie O’Farrell’s novel Hamnet about the death of Shakespeare’s son, of the same name, and the shockwaves this tragedy sent through the family. As a result I was ready to see the movie this weekend. It’s excellent date night material IMHO. For Danny Leigh’s FT review of what is being tipped as a strong contender for Best Picture Oscar, click here.

Are you eagerly anticipating any new films or books in 2026? Email me at jonathan.moules@ft.com or, if you are reading this from your inbox, hit reply. 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

• Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey takes part in a meeting of the Bellagio Group 2026 at the Bank’s London headquarters, hosted by Clare Lombardelli, deputy governor, monetary policy.

• Japan: Coming of Age Day (Adult’s Day). Financial markets closed.

• UK: KPMG/REC Report on Jobs

• US: The Conference Board Employment Index

• Results: HCL Technologies Q3, Oxford Nanopore Technologies FY trading update, Plus500 FY post-close trading update, Tata Consultancy Services Q3

Tuesday

• Denny’s shareholders will vote on a proposed acquisition by a group made up of TriArtisan Capital Advisors, Treville Capital Group and Yadav Enterprises.

• Germany: November producer prices of agricultural products

• UK: British Retail Consortium December Retail Sales Monitor

• US: December consumer price index (CPI) inflation rate and real earnings data

• Results: Bank of New York Mellon Q4, Delta Air Lines Q4/FY, Games Workshop HY, Gamma Communications trading update, Grafton trading update, Gym Group FY pre-close trading update, Hunting trading statement, IntegraFin Q1 trading update, JPMorgan Chase Q4/FY, PageGroup Q4 trading update, Persimmon trading update, SIG trading update, Trustpilot trading update, Whitbread Q3 trading update

Wednesday

• Alan Taylor, external member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, will speak at the National University of Singapore. Meanwhile, deputy governor, markets and banking, Dave Ramsden will speak at King’s College London.

• Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia president Anna Paulson speaks on the economic outlook before the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia State of the Economy event.

• OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report

• US: November producer price index (PPI) inflation rate data. Also, latest Beige Book published.

• Results: Bank of America Q4, Citigroup Q4, Diploma Q1, Hays Q2 trading update, Infosys Q3, Liontrust Asset Management 9M trading update, Nichols trading update, Pearson FY trading update, Vistry trading update, Wells Fargo Q4

Thursday

• Michael Barr, a Federal Reserve board member, speaks on a panel discussing stablecoins after the GENIUS Act at the Wharton Future of Finance Forum in Washington.

• France: December CPI inflation rate data

• Germany: 2025 GDP estimate

• South Korea: interest rate announcement

• UK: November 2025 GDP estimate, construction output in Great Britain and production index

• Results: Ashmore Q2 AUM statement, BlackRock Q4, Brooks Macdonald Q2 FUMA update, CAB Payments trading update, Dunelm Q2 trading update, Fuller, Smith & Turner trading update, Goldman Sachs Q4, Hostelworld trading update, Morgan Stanley Q4, OMV Q4 trading update, Oxford Instruments trading update, Rathbones Q4 trading statement, Robert Walters Q4 trading update, Safestore FY, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Q4, Taylor Wimpey trading update

Friday

• Federal Reserve vice-chair Philip Jefferson speaks at the AIER Monetary Conference in Boca Raton, Florida.

• Germany: December CPI and harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) inflation rate data

• Results: MJ Gleeson HY trading update, M & T Bank Q4/FY, PNC Financial Services Q4, Regions Financial Q4, Reliance Industries Q3/9M, State Street Q4/FY

World events

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

Monday

• India: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is on a two-day visit, including a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad. The tour will take in Bengaluru, where Merz will meet German companies.

• UK: Russian national Vladimir Motin, the captain of a container ship that crashed into a US tanker off Britain’s east coast in March 2025 will go on trial at London’s Old Bailey court over the death of a crew member in the collision.

• US: AIAA SciTech Forum 2026, a five-day aerospace R&D conference, opens in Orlando, Florida.

Tuesday

• China: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney travels to Beijing, the first visit by a Canadian premier since 2017, meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss trade, energy, agriculture and security.

• France: Paris Court of Appeal begins the appeal trial for French far-right leader Marine Le Pen over the misuse of EU funds.

• UK: House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee holds an evidence session on the UK’s fiscal framework, taking evidence from, among others, the former Office for Budget Responsibility chair Richard Hughes. He resigned after the OBR’s latest economic and fiscal outlook was erroneously published online before chancellor Rachel Reeves made her Budget statement to the House of Commons last November.

Wednesday

Thursday

• 25th anniversary of the launch of Wikipedia.

• Australia: 2026 Australian Open main draw ceremony in Melbourne. The event itself, the first Grand Slam tennis tournament of the year, begins with opening matches in Melbourne Park on Sunday.

• Uganda: presidential and parliamentary elections

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

• Morocco: Africa Cup of Nations culminates with the final match to be played at the Stade Prince Moulay Abdallah in Rabat.

• Portugal: presidential election