Here are the top stories we'll be watching this week.
The UK and the EU aim to agree finally
on the first stage of Brexit.
GDP figures from China will reveal the impact of the trade
war with the US, which will also affect
the results of aluminium producer Alcoa out
on Wednesday.
And the winner of one of the world's
leading literary awards, the Man Booker Prize, is announced.
First to the UK.
Brexit, migration, and the eurozone
will be on the menu for a crunch one
and a half day EU leaders' summit in Brussels this week.
Diplomats are putting together a draft version
of a political declaration on the EU/UK future relationship.
The most sensitive issue of the Irish backstop
is expected to be thrashed out by EU leaders
with the aim of getting a final agreement at a special summit
in November.
The FT's Whitehall editor James Blitz has this analysis.
Things are always fluid with EU summits.
And with Brexit, nothing is ever completely certain.
But it looks as though at this week's meeting,
Mrs May and the leaders of the 27 EU states
will agree the first stage of the Brexit deal.
In other words, the Article 50 negotiation which seals
the divorce in which Britain pays £39bn to leave the EU.
There was an agreement on EU citizens.
And of course, that third and most tricky
issue in many ways, the question of what
happens over the Irish border.
Well, that looks as though somehow that
is also going to be resolved.
If all goes well, and the leaders leave with Article 50
signed, then they will move to the next phase which
is an emergency summit at some time in November
where everything will be brought together, the Article 50
draft that they have.
And then, the future framework for EU/UK
trade which will be a political declaration, not legally
binding, but which will give some idea of where
the UK's relationship with the EU will be in future.
Difficult to make firm guesses.
But at this stage it looks as though Mrs May will come back
to the House of Commons at some point in November with a deal.
The question then, of course, is whether MPs
will give it their approval.
China's National Bureau of Statistics
releases its estimate for third-quarter economic growth
on Friday.
Investors will be looking for any signs of weakness
in the numbers stemming from Beijing's escalating trade
war with Washington.
The Trump administration imposed tariffs on Chinese exports
worth $50bn annually in July before targeting
another $200bn in September.
The dispute has so far had little impact on the world's
second largest economy, and Chinese officials
are confident they can survive even a fully-blown trade
war with the US.
However, with investments and economic growth already slowing
because of a government crackdown on risky lending
practises and devaluation pressures building
on the renminbi, President Xi Jinping has little room
for manoeuvre.
Investors will also be looking to see how the US/China trade
war has affected Pittsburgh-based aluminium
producer Alcoa which presents third-quarter results this week
and has seen its share price fall by nearly a third
this year.
In late May, the Trump administration imposed a 10
per cent levy on imports of aluminium.
This comes on top of US sanctions
on Russian producer Rusal imposed
in April which have caused widespread disruption
in the global market for aluminium.
Aluminium prices initially shot up by 30 per cent
but have since fallen by 20 per cent.
The FT's Commodities Correspondent Henry Sanderson
has more.
Alcoa shares have fallen by about 30 per cent this year.
So investors will be looking for third-quarter earnings
for any sign that Alcoa has benefited from turmoil
in the global aluminium market following the US sanctions
against Russian producer Rusal.
Aluminium prices have fallen back
from their high level in April.
But perhaps more critically, Alcoa
is a big producer of alumina, the price of which
has surged because Rusal was also a producer,
and Rusal's production was cut from the market.
So investors will be looking to see
that Alcoa's benefited from this rise in the alumina price.
Investors will also be looking at the impact of the deepening
US/China trade war.
Because not only for its impact on demand for aluminium
but also the impact on Chinese supply.
China's the biggest producer of aluminium.
And the renminbi has weakened quite considerably,
making it more - lowering their cost of production.
So investors will be listening to see
what Alcoa says about both global demand and global supply
in the wake of this trade war.
The winner of the leading literary award, the Man Booker
Prize, will be announced on Tuesday in London.
More than 170 books were submitted for the £50,000
award.
The 2018 Man Booker shortlist covers difficult issues
from prison life to environmental disaster,
incest, war, slavery, and marginalisation.
It is also a shortlist in which women outnumber men.
But when it comes to the big reveal on Tuesday night,
the thorny question of whether an American will
take the prize for the third-year running
will be on everyone's lips.
Rachel Kushner's tale of female incarceration, The Mars Room,
is up against Richard Powers novel about trees and people,
The Overstory.
And that's what the week ahead looks like from the Financial
Times in London.