Puerto Rico’s Meeting With Creditors, Janet Yellen’s Testimony and Google’s Earnings

Seeking Relief in Puerto Rico

Monday afternoon, Puerto Rico’s creditors are invited to meet at Citigroup’s Park Avenue office for a presentation by the Commonwealth’s top financial official and a former chief economist at the World Bank. The meeting, which will be streamed online to the public, is being billed as the first face-to-face meeting between Puerto Rico and its creditors since the governor declared that the island’s debts were not payable. —Michael Corkery

Labor Talks for Carmakers

Contract talks begin this week between the United Automobile Workers and two of Detroit’s automakers. Negotiations start on Monday with General Motors and on Tuesday, with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Negotiations at Ford begin later this month. The union is hoping for wage increases in a new contract. The current labor agreements expire in September. —Bill Vlasic

Expected Growth in Consumer Spending

Retail sales figures due from the Census Bureau on Tuesday are likely to show that spending climbed in June for a fourth straight month, buoyed by the lowest unemployment the country has experienced in seven years and strong payroll growth. Spending at auto dealers and home improvement stores has jumped in recent months, evidence that households feel confident enough to make longer-term investments in their cars and homes. Consumers are also starting to spend more at the pump, reflecting the higher costs of gas since April, though that could divert dollars away from other retailers. Consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of economic activity in the United States. —Hiroko Tabuchi

Banks Post Earnings

The nation’s largest banks report their second-quarter results this week, starting with JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo on Tuesday. Analysts are expecting relatively ho-hum earnings despite the stable economy in the United States. The wild card for banks like Bank of America, which reports on Wednesday, could be results from their bond, currencies and commodities trading operations. Trading revenue tends to swing wildly each quarter. Also reporting earnings this week are the private equity firm Blackstone Group and the asset manager BlackRock. —Michael Corkery

Assessing Banking Culture

A British Parliament committee on Tuesday will question Stephen Green, the former chairman of HSBC, and Winfried Bischoff, the former chairman of Lloyds Banking Group and Citigroup, on the culture of the banking industry. The session before the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee is expected to cover a wide variety of issues, including whether global banks have become too large and complex to manage and if large fines against financial institutions are the right way to improve ethics in the industry. The committee will also examine misconduct in HSBC’s Swiss and Mexican operations and whether the bank took rules against money laundering seriously. —Chad Bray

A Giant Slows

All eyes will be on the Chinese economy this week, as the country reports its second-quarter gross domestic product. The economy is expected to have grown by 6.8 percent, the slowest rate since 2009. If the numbers prove weak, that could add to the pressure on the stock market, which has been slumping in recent weeks. On Friday, Premier Li Keqiang expressed confidence in the economy, although he also alluded to the market troubles. “Though there will be various challenges and risks along the way,” he said in a statement, “we will never let down our guard, and we have the capability and confidence to prevent regional and systemic risks.” —Adrienne Carter.

Puerto Rico’s Meeting With Creditors, Janet Yellen’s Testimony and Google’s Earnings