This text is an on-site model of our FirstFT e-newsletter. Subscribers can signal as much as our Asia, Europe/Africa or Americas version to obtain the e-newsletter each weekday. Discover all of our newsletters right here
Right now’s agenda: Elon Musk’s Trump donation; Boeing’s struggles; US ultimatum on Israel; Saudi Arabia tightens purse; and Venice’s farm-to-table motion
Good morning. We begin with information that UK chancellor Rachel Reeves has recognized a £40bn funding hole forward of her Price range in two weeks — excess of beforehand anticipated.
Why is the hole a lot bigger? The determine represents the funding that Reeves wants to guard key authorities departments from real-terms spending cuts, cowl the enduring influence of an annual £22bn overspend and construct up a fiscal buffer for the rest of the parliament.
How will it’s funded? The Monetary Instances has been instructed by officers near the Price range course of that the Treasury is looking for methods of closing the shortfall, with tax rises set to kind the centrepiece of the chancellor’s response.
Reeves wants to lift taxes or discover financial savings — together with by welfare cuts — to satisfy a brand new “golden rule” that balances day-to-day spending with tax revenues. She has in latest weeks been warning that “difficult decisions” lie forward on tax, spending and welfare. Learn the total report.
Step into the chancellor’s footwear and see in the event you can run the UK financial system with the FT’s new Price range sport.
Right here’s what else I’m protecting tabs on immediately:
-
Financial information: The UK and Italy have September shopper inflation information.
-
Outcomes: Abbott, Alcoa, Equifax, Kinder Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Prologis, United Airways, US Bancorp and Whitbread report.
5 extra high tales
1. Elon Musk has given practically $75mn to assist Donald Trump’s bid to win again the White Home. The Tesla and X proprietor made a number of multimillion-dollar donations throughout the third quarter to his political motion committee, in line with a federal submitting launched yesterday, giving the group a big funds to help Trump’s re-election bid.
2. Boeing has introduced plans to lift as much as $25bn in new capital and agreed a $10bn credit score facility. The transfer comes per week after S&P International Rankings warned of a doable downgrade of Boeing’s bonds to junk standing within the face of a crippling strike by its largest labour union. Learn extra on Boeing’s newest response to its troubles.
3. The US has instructed Israel it must take “urgent and sustained actions” to enhance the dire humanitarian scenario in Gaza or army help from Washington may very well be in danger, in a uncommon public ultimatum to Benjamin Netanyahu’s authorities and an indication of rising frustration on the conflict’s civilian toll. Right here’s what the US is demanding.
4. Unique: Brussels plans to broaden its powers over merger offers as a way to cease “killer acquisitions” that pose dangers to start-ups in Europe and past, in line with folks conversant in the discussions. It might be the primary overhaul of the EU’s rule e book on mergers and acquisitions in many years, however some officers are expressing issues concerning the deliberate reforms.
5. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has stated her authorities is planning to lift €3.5bn from banks and insurance coverage firms because it seeks to plug a €9bn funds hole. Following a cupboard assembly final night time, Meloni wrote on X that the additional funds could be used to finance the general public well being system and enhance companies for these in want. Right here’s why monetary firms are within the crosshairs.
The Large Learn
A frenzy of exercise led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund has remodeled the as soon as conservative kingdom into one of many world’s largest development websites and a magnet for worldwide consultants and contractors. However after nearly a decade of the frenetic tempo, Riyadh is starting to scale down on the spending spree as a sense of realism and pragmatism takes maintain.
We’re additionally studying . . .
-
NHS: The Labour authorities has promised to carry the service into the digital age, however docs say the fundamental infrastructure first must be introduced as much as a minimal normal.
-
Cheapflation: Costs of cheap items have risen sooner than dearer varieties. Governments and companies at the moment are making an attempt to determine who in charge, writes Brooke Masters.
-
US politics: The brazenness of the nation’s politicians within the face of scandals is a defining function of the period. Ed Luce asks: has America misplaced its disgrace?
-
4 funding errors to keep away from: In his new column, Jonathan Guthrie takes a take a look at good and dangerous monetary considering.
Chart of the day
The Worldwide Power Company has stated that an enormous enhance in using air-con, pushed by rising incomes within the growing world and better temperatures from local weather change, could have one of many largest and most unpredictable impacts on the world’s electrical energy grids within the coming decade.
Take a break from the information
On the island of Sant’Erasmo within the Venetian lagoon, a pioneering co-operative based by native cooks has established a kitchen backyard to create jobs and save the distinctive flavours of vegetables and fruit utilized in dishes susceptible to disappearing. Right here’s the place to partake within the metropolis’s farm-to-table revolution.
Further contributions from Gordon Smith and Benjamin Wilhelm
