Donald Trump protected after suspected assassination try at golf membership | Invesloan.com

Good morning. In today’s news:

• Argentina plans to eliminate budget deficit next year

• Tension at the heart of Brazil’s plan for growth

• The battle for the future of the Murdoch media empire

But first, we bring you the latest on the second apparent assassination attempt on the life of former president Donald Trump, with less than two months to go before he faces vice-president Kamala Harris in a tight race for the White House.

US law enforcement officials said yesterday the Republican nominee is safe and that they had detained a man who they said had targeted Trump while he was playing golf near his Mar-a-Lago resort.

They found an AK-47 style rifle with a scope, two backpacks and a GoPro camera in the bushes at the south Florida course, Ric Bradshaw, Palm Beach County Sheriff, told reporters.

Multiple US media outlets, citing law enforcement officials, named the suspect as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, of Hawaii but his identity was not officially confirmed.

If authorities do confirm the assassination attempt, it would mark the second time that Trump has been targeted by a gunman this year.

In July, he was shot and injured in the ear at an election rally in western Pennsylvania, days before being confirmed as the Republican presidential nominee.

Trump is facing a close race for the White House against the vice-president. According to the Financial Times’ national poll tracker, Harris is leading Trump by 2.1 percentage points.

In a statement on Sunday, Harris said she was “deeply disturbed” by the possible assassination attempt on the former president.

“We all must do our part to ensure that this incident does not lead to more violence,” she added. Here’s more on what happened.

• And more on the suspect: Ryan Routh’s previous views and political activity are now being examined for clues as to a possible motive for any attack. Here’s what we know about him so far.

• Harris leads on economy: The Democratic nominee has consolidated her polling lead over Trump on economic issues, according to the latest FT-Michigan Ross poll.

The White House race is in the home straight. Sign up for our US Election Countdown newsletter so you don’t miss any updates. And here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:

• Economic data: Brazil’s central bank releases the results of a weekly economic survey with more than 100 financial institutions. This will include forecasts for GDP, interest rates and inflation rates.

• Murdoch succession: Court hearings over Rupert Murdoch’s attempt to wrest control of his media empire away from three of his children are set to begin today in Reno, Nevada. 

• TikTok: The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia will hold oral arguments on TikTok’s legal challenge of a law requiring China-based ByteDance to sell TikTok’s US assets by January 19 or face a ban.

Five more top stories

1. Economists expect the US economy to achieve a soft landing, according to the most recent Financial Times-Chicago Booth survey. The findings come just days before the Federal Reserve is expected to start cutting interest rates, and suggest the country’s economy is headed for solid growth, low inflation and healthy employment.

• US interest rates: With fears about inflation giving way to fears about jobs, the Fed is poised this week to announce its first interest rate cut since the pandemic. Colby Smith previews the “momentous” meeting.

2. Argentina’s libertarian President Javier Milei has announced that he intends to eliminate the budget deficit entirely next year, doubling down on promises of fiscal discipline despite a recession. The proposal, which aims for a surplus equivalent to 1.3 per cent of GDP before interest payments in 2025, also makes ambitious projections of an economic rebound and a sharp slowdown in inflation.

3. Top German officials were not briefed in advance about an invitation for UniCredit to bid for a government stake in Commerzbank, according to people familiar with the events, despite the move opening the door to a full takeover. JPMorgan Chase bankers, who advised Berlin on the stake sale, invited UniCredit to participate, creating an impression that the Italian bank’s interest was welcome.

4. Russia is consolidating its hold on newly occupied areas of Ukraine by opening branches of its largest state banks in cities such as Mariupol. Defying western sanctions, Vladimir Putin told state companies this year there was “nothing to fear” by setting up shop in occupied regions, and Sberbank and VTB have begun to heed the call.

• Military briefing: Kyiv’s gamble in Kursk is in question as Russia begins its counteroffensive, with the strategic rewards of the incursion still elusive.

5. The head of the World Trade Organization has stressed the need for global carbon pricing to prevent “difficult and problematic” trade disputes from environmental measures. The WTO is taking the lead in working for an international carbon pricing system with the IMF, OECD and UN, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told the FT.

The Big Read

Since returning to office last year, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has achieved a significant drop in Amazon deforestation and outlined wide-ranging green economy plans for Brazil. But his government’s plan to boost economic growth has created an uneasy tension with the president’s aspirations for global climate leadership, summed up in one word: oil.

We’re also reading . . . 

Chart of the day

Ageism is rife in the workplace, writes Pilita Clark, but the number of older workers is steadily growing, she says. And whether older people choose to work because they enjoy it, or more likely, for the money, they have the potential to save bosses from embarrassing gaffes.

Take a break from the news

For 30 years, Lunch with the FT has featured a who’s who of our times: dictators and dissidents, chief executives and communists, philosophers and fraudsters. Henry Mance, the FT’s chief features writer, explains its magic.

Additional contributions from Tee Zhuo and Benjamin Wilhelm.