Jockeying to join Trump’s cabinet

Good morning and on in the present day’s agenda:

• Fed and BoE charge selections

• German coalition collapses

• Wall Road celebrates Trump’s victory

After securing a historic victory yesterday Donald Trump has now begun occupied with who will serve in his new White Home administration.

Scott Bessent, a hedge fund supervisor and prime fundraiser for Trump, is canvassing to function the president-elect’s deputy and Treasury secretary, one of the necessary and highly effective positions within the new cupboard.

Bessent, a billionaire who made his fortune betting in opposition to the Japanese yen with liberal philanthropist George Soros, turned one in all Trump’s prime financial advisers final yr. Trump just lately described Bessent as “one of many prime analysts on Wall Road”.

Different doable contenders for the publish embrace John Paulson, one other billionaire hedge fund supervisor and Trump marketing campaign donor, and Robert Lighthizer, the previous US commerce consultant. Senator Invoice Hagerty, who served as US ambassador to Japan in the course of the first Trump administration, has additionally been talked about in reference to the job. Learn extra on Bessent’s campaign.

Who else will be a part of the brand new administration? Here are some top contenders.

Within the coming days, we can have extra evaluation on the far-reaching repercussions of Trump’s second time period, together with in our White Home Watch e-newsletter. Sign up here.

And right here’s what else I’m maintaining tabs on in the present day:

• Financial coverage: The Federal Reserve and Bank of England are anticipated to chop rates of interest in the present day. Learn Chris Giles’s commentary on what Trump’s return means for central banks.

• Earnings: Warner Bros Discovery, The Hershey Firm, Ralph Lauren and Tapestry will all publish outcomes earlier than the opening bell. Airbnb, Expedia, Information Corp and Rivian will announce earnings after the market closes. 

• European leaders meet: Leaders of the EU meet in Budapest in the present day and the way forward for Ukraine can be prime of the agenda because the continent prepares for a extra hostile president within the White Home.

5 extra prime tales

1. Wall Road yesterday rejoiced at Donald Trump’s re-election and the prospect of looser regulation for the monetary companies business and a wave of latest merchandise. The banks element of the S&P 500 hit an all-time excessive whereas the KBW regional banks index rose greater than 12 per cent. Non-public fairness teams additionally rose. Here’s what Wall Street is expecting from the new administration.

• Huge Tech: The chief executives of Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft rushed to congratulate Trump, with the sector hoping for a more permissive stance on offers, antitrust and AI.

2. Chinese language exports soared in October and its commerce surplus ballooned, simply days after Donald Trump secured victory on a promise to aggressively increase tariffs to cut back the commerce surplus with China. The bumper export figures are expected to inflame tensions between Beijing and the incoming administration.

3. Olaf Scholz, Germany’s chancellor, has appointed his financial adviser Jörg Kukies as the brand new finance minister after yesterday sacking the earlier holder of the workplace, triggering a collapse of the nation’s ruling coalition. A former Goldman Sachs banker, Kukies has labored with Scholz since 2018. Read more on Germany’s new finance minister.

4. AstraZeneca’s China chief has been detained by Chinese language authorities over the previous week, the drugmaker instructed the Monetary Instances. The FTSE 100 firm additionally confirmed that two different present executives within the area and two former executives have been beneath investigation. Read the full story.

5. The US authorities has come to assistance from Argentina by urging a New York courtroom to dam the seizure of the nation’s property as partial fulfilment of a $16bn authorized judgment. Officers in President Javier Milei’s authorities have privately vowed to struggle to the bitter finish to cut back the nation’s authorized liabilities and shield Argentina’s scarce sources. Here’s more on the US government’s intervention.

The Huge Learn

In the long run, it wasn’t even shut. A presidential election lengthy forecast to bop on a knife’s edge in a short time was a rout for Donald Trump. Right this moment’s Huge Learn has the 5 maps and charts that present how the Republican candidate defied typical assumptions about his assist and redrew America’s political map.

We’re additionally studying . . . 

• The Democratic Celebration: The size of Donald Trump’s victory reveals that Kamala Harris’s progressive agenda failed to connect with American voters.

• Trump 2.0 reads: Gideon Rachman and Frederick Studemann choose some of the best books for understanding the previous president’s return to energy.

• Markets: Traders known as this US election appropriately however what do they do now, asks Katie Martin.

Chart of the day

The financial and geopolitical circumstances of the previous yr or two have created arguably essentially the most hostile surroundings in historical past for incumbent events and politicians throughout the developed world. The Democrats have joined Britain’s Tories and Japan’s Liberal Democrats in 2024’s graveyard of incumbents in an unprecedented yr of elections, writes our chief knowledge reporter John Burn-Murdoch.

Take a break from the information

HTSI’s drinks columnist Alice Lascelles was requested to evaluate the most effective teas on the earth at The Leafies awards. These were the winners.