Guten morgen from Richard in Davos: One speech looks likely to dominate today’s World Economic Forum with President Trump due to address delegates at 1pm UK time. The president was in “charm mode” at a dinner last night with European business leaders, according to the Financial Times. Will today’s speech be similar? Reports suggest that he will tell the annual meeting that “a more vibrant and wealthy America means more demand for goods manufactured around the world”.
Not that everyone will be there. A number of delegates are leaving before Mr Trump’s speech, not out of some political protest but fearful that their escape from Davos will be delayed by the president’s security.
There is plenty to keep those delegates not heading home (or to the slopes) busy. John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, will make his well-publicised appearance on a panel with Katherine Garrett-Cox, the former chief executive of Alliance Trust (9.15am UK time) to discuss a very Davos question: will free markets make a comeback? Matthew Hancock, secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, is on a panel discussing AI (10am UK time) and at lunchtime John McFarlane, chairman of Barclays, and Carolyn Fairbairn, director-general of the CBI, will contemplate the business of Brexit.
Finally Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, and Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, are among a panel considering what lies ahead for the global economy in 2018.
For the very latest from Davos follow the Times business team on Twitter — @fletcherr, @PhilAldrick and @KGriffithsTimes — and log on regularly to thetimes.co.uk/business.
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Have a great one. I’ll be back in your inbox on Monday morning when normal service resumes.
Richard
Good morning from Callum in London: Astrazeneca has announced that a trial of PT010, its chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) treatment, “demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in eight out of nine lung function primary endpoints”. The pharmaceutical company plans to put forward PT010 for regulatory approval in Japan and China this year and is considering “potential submissions” in the US and Europe in 2019.
At 9.30am we are due an update on GDP in the last quarter from the Office for National Statistics. The UK economy is expected to have held steady at 0.4 per cent in the final three months of the year, with the annual measure remaining at 1.8 per cent. This afternoon we are also due the first estimate of how the US economy fared at the end of last year. The market expects it to have slowed to an annualised pace of about 2.8 per cent in the final quarter. We will find out at 1.30pm UK time.
Markets snap
On the corporate front, if you are heading to Milton Keynes next year Easyhotel has acquired a leasehold of part of the town’s Norfolk House and plans to open a 124-room hotel by mid-2019. Arena Events, the provider of temporary seating and ice rinks with clients including Wimbledon and ITV’s Dancing On Ice, reports that trading was “in line with market expectations” last year.
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And finally: the Bitcoin bandwagon has continued to roll this week, with an Aim-listed telecoms investor and even Arsenal Football Club getting involved. The latest to jump on? The rapper 50 Cent has reportedly made more than $7 million after accepting the cryptocurrency when selling an album.
That’s all from us. Please do keep sending your thoughts and observations to callum.jones@thetimes.co.uk. We’ll be back in your inbox on Monday, have a good weekend.
Callum