The FT’s Helen Barrett on the key stories the FT will be watching this week, including: the latest summit between Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae-In, the AZ China aluminium conference and Nike’s annual shareholder meeting.
Here are some of the big stories we’ll be watching this week kim jeong-hoon hosts south korean president moon jae-in in pyongyang investors will be watching an international aluminium conference in shanghai and nike shareholders convene at their annual meeting as controversy surrounds the company’s recent advertising campaign first up south korean president
Moon jae-in will this week travel to pyongyang to meet north korean leader kim jong-un the three-day summit which kicks off on tuesday is the third meeting between the two men this year mr. moon hopes the meeting will help bolster pledges to end hostilities on the korean peninsula which remains a potential flashpoint in the region despite a current period of
Rapprochement mr. moon will also look to contribute to negotiations between the u.s. and north korea over the issue of denuclearization talks between washington and pyongyang are currently stalled although both sides are planning a summit of their own in a bid to move relations forward president lee’s visit to pyongyang once again underscores seoul’s crucial role
As a bridge in north korea and the united states when the singapore summit looks set to fall apart back in may it’s a catonian to mention from the south korean leader to set things straight now mr. moon will again be hoping to work his magic by bridging the political and cultural gap between the two sides much is riding on this with a slowing economy dragging on
His approval ratings at home mr. moon is in need of a political win now to shanghai where the a said china aluminium conference will be held next week the meeting comes at a fraught time in aluminium markets the price of the metals spiked in april after us sanctions against russian producer bruce el but prices have since fallen by 21 percent meanwhile there are
Concerns over global demand for aluminium following a sell-off in emerging market currencies and president donald trump’s tariffs have also increased uncertainty over global trade flows the asia conference in shanghai comes at a very interesting point in in a market for aluminium which this year has been roiled by trade tension and tariffs launched by president
Trump but in particular sanctions against russian producer bruce au which is the largest producer outside of china if the sanctions continue resale metal won’t be available so it’s got to come from somewhere else and chinese producers could be big beneficiaries of that so there’s a lot of uncertainty about how that’s going to affect global trade flows and who
Will get exceptions from these tariffs for china there’s also another issue which is environmental protection and the chinese government has tried to curb production of aluminium which uses a lot of power in order to reduce pollution but obviously is trying to also stimulate the economy in the face of a deepening trade war so people want to know what what path
Is it going to take and finally nike will hold its annual shareholder meeting on thursday earlier this month the company unveiled a new advertising campaign featuring colin kaepernick former nfl quarterback who knelt during the u.s. national anthem in order to draw attention to police brutality towards african americans nikes endorsement of kaepernick drew noisy
Protests including criticism from president donald trump but despite the backlash early indications are that the company could perform well off the back of the controversial campaign as nike ceo mark parker will be keen to stress the immediate reaction from nike investors as surveys came out showing its brand had taken quite a hit from this ad campaign was to mark
The stock down but mr. parker should be able to point to some more encouraging signs in the aftermath and as some research showed that its online sales were up 31% in the days after the ad aired suggesting that it has managed to resonate with a core audience of nike consumers who mostly young mostly urban many of them minorities there are also encouraging signs
From the stock market like his stock is now back up above where it was before the ad first aired which should give mr. parker a following win for this meeting it’s worth remembering the name of the venue in which this year’s annual meeting is taking place it’s called the tiger woods conference center that should be a reminder that nike has a very long history of
Sticking by controvert athletes i expected to do exactly the same this time and that’s what the week ahead looks like from the financial times in london
Transcribed from video
Inter-Korean Summit, AZ China aluminium conference By Financial Times
