LET’S ALL GO TO THE MOON

Forget everything that´s happening in the world this week for now, the first thing we need to talk about is, if prediction models are correct, the temperatures will start to drop next week. More on that story as it develops.

The Spanish election outcome should also come to a conclusion this week, after the parliamentarians started to form their tables and groups. The week saw a fallout between the PP and Vox, although in Valencia they are whistling in the wind pretending everything is fine, but the result was that the PP lost their necessary support. The current belief is that the PP will claim that they still have the public´s support, whereas the PSOE will claim to have the Government´s support, and so, unless the respective leaders decide on a Musk Vs Zuckerberg cage fight, the King is expected to resolve the impasse. Today, Monday, is the day set aside in the monarch´s schedule to hold the respective meetings (he has, so far, left the rest of the week blank in his diary!). Last week brought a lot of negative sentiment to the financial markets, particularly raising uncertainty in the Chinese economy. Investors expect other significant events this week and are keeping their global eyes on the S&P 500 index, the EUR/USD, and

Bitcoin.

The panic in the market and the increased risk of recession triggered the flight of capital from risky assets. Consequently, the dollar rose significantly against most developed country currencies. EUR/USD is heading towards a resistance zone around 1,081 and could move closer to that level this week.

India and Russia (so the sanctions are working then!) will land on the moon this week. On Monday, the Lunar-25 probe launched by Russian space agency Roscosmos is due to land on the lunar south pole, where it is scheduled to spend a year analysing the surface, but the cosmonauts will be joined two days later by India’s Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission, having travelled around the Earth’s orbit multiple times since launching on July 14. NASA’s Crew-7 mission is also planned for launch on Friday, heading for the ISS. Back on earth, and in the UK specifically, you’ll never guess one of the main headlines likely to make the front pages this week… Okay, we will tell you… Immigration! This week’s reason is because the quarterly stats are released on Thursday on immigration and irregular migration to the UK. There could be good news, or bad news, for

UK households, as Ofgem will announce the next change to the energy price cap on Friday. It is worth remembering that even if the price drops, it will still be higher than it was. Ukraine will inevitably loom large as the country marks Independence Day on Thursday, exactly 18 months since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in Feb 2022. GCSE results are published this week, and in the world of sport the PGA Tour Championship begins, as does the Vuelta a España cycle race, and we have the Hundred (cricket) finals and the F1 Netherlands Grand Prix, whereas for the multi-culturists amongst us, it’s the Notting Hill Carnival on Saturday. Back in Spain, and Friday is a key date locally, as it marks the anniversary of the 1938 bombing of Torrevieja. On 25 August 1938, Italian fascist aviation “Savoia”, at the command of the revolted Francoist army, attacked Torrevieja, in a bombing raid that caused 19 deaths and dozens of injuries, the vast majority of them civilians.

Each year on 25 August, at the Hombre del Mar monument in Torrevieja, a gathering takes place to mark the anniversary where the participants throw a carnation into the sea for each of the victims, while reading their names.

The solemn mood may not be reflected a little further down the promenade as the SOUND UP Festival also takes place on Friday, where upcoming entertainers will perform in the natural pool area with the winner subsequently participating in the "Brilla Torrevieja" Festival.

Final point, next Monday is a bank holiday in the UK, which is significant to us in Spain as we tend to see many of the UK tourists returning home for that date. As for the Spanish, we have to wait until the end of next week until they “return” home.