FirstFT: Republicans complete Congress sweep

Good morning and welcome back to FirstFT. On today’s agenda we have:

The Republicans have secured a majority in the House of Representatives, giving Donald Trump’s party full control of both chambers of the US Congress and wide latitude to push a radical agenda through the legislature.

The House verdict comes more than a week after Trump won a convincing election victory over Kamala Harris in the presidential race, retuning the former president to the White House after a four-year absence.

The Republicans also took control of the Senate in a better than expected result for the GOP. Yesterday Republicans elected South Dakota senator John Thune the next Republican leader of the Senate, a potential check on the power of the incoming president.

The House result, which came after more than a week of counting in California and other states, is a blow to Democrats, who will be unable to lead powerful congressional committees to oversee investigations into the Trump administration’s actions.

Yet with nine House races still to be called, the margin of the Republican majority has not been confirmed. But the Associated Press declared late yesterday that Trump’s party had secured the 218 seats necessary to retain control of the 435-member body. Read more on the House results.

• The latest Trump appointments: The president-elect has sent further shockwaves through Washington after tapping two controversial loyalists to head the US justice department and America’s spy agencies.

• Pete Hegseth: Trump’s nominee for secretary of defence has shocked America’s European allies and sparked a backlash in the US. One former Trump official described the choice as “crazy”.

How will Donald Trump’s presidency transform global trade and financial markets? Pose your questions to FT journalists in a live Q&A at 3pm GMT/10am ET today. You can leave your questions in the comment section under this article, and add the event to your calendar here.

Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:

• Economic data: The producer price index, which tracks wholesale price inflation, is released a day after the Bureau of Labor Statistics confirmed consumer prices rose to 2.6 per cent in October.

• Monetary policy: Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell will speak on the global economy at an event in Dallas. Federal Reserve Board governor Adriana Kugler speaks on central bank independence and the economy at an event in Montevideo, Uruguay.

• US politics: President Joe Biden heads to Peru, where China’s influence is growing, for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. The Conservative Political Action Conference is holding an investor summit at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, starting today and running through to Saturday.

• Companies: US entertainment group Walt Disney reports annual results.

Five more top stories

1. France has in effect boycotted the COP29 UN climate summit in Azerbaijan after an attack by the host country president. A top French climate official said she would not attend the conference after Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev accused France of “brutally” suppressing climate change concerns in its island territories in the Pacific in an address to other leaders.

2. Theodore Olson, the renowned conservative lawyer who fought to legalise same-sex marriage and was instrumental in securing a presidential win for George W Bush in 2000, has died aged 84. Olson, a towering figure in the US bar and former US solicitor-general who appeared in some of the most consequential cases in recent legal history, died yesterday. Read more on the “extraordinary” advocate.

3. Israeli authorities have deliberately caused the mass displacement of Palestinians in Gaza, Human Rights Watch said in a report yesterday. The 154-page report said Israel’s hostilities — during which 1.9mn of Gaza’s 2.2mn people have been displaced, according to the UN — amounted to “forced displacement” and “a crime against humanity”.

4. Canada’s indigenous communities are seeking deals with China that could give Beijing access to the country’s natural resources. Karen Ogen, co-chair and chief executive of the First Nations Liquefied Natural Gas Alliance, is visiting Beijing this week to discuss potential energy and other business deals. The trip could put Canada’s First Nation communities at odds with the country’s national security priorities.

5. Argentina’s libertarian president Javier Milei is hoping that budding friendships with US president-elect Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk will help secure much-needed investment in his crisis-stricken country, including a new loan from the IMF. Argentina wants billions of dollars in fresh cash to help lift strict currency and capital controls that are slowing the country’s exit from recession.

Today’s big read

Goldman Sachs’ years-long struggle to gain control of its Chinese business is a cautionary tale for other western financial institutions. The Financial Times has pieced together a full account of a misadventure that the group itself has rarely commented on and which barely features in its investor communications.

We’re also reading and listening to . . . 

• Bitcoin: The digital currency’s big bang moment is impossible to ignore, argues markets columnist Katie Martin.

• Democrats: The electoral coalition that Donald Trump forged last week was sensational but it won’t last, writes Janan Ganesh.

• Diabetes: A new study has found that global rates of diabetes have doubled in the past three decades. The Lancet report looked at 200 countries and territories.

Chart of the day

Ukraine’s sovereign bonds have surged in price in what one investor in the country called “the unlikeliest Trump trade ever”. Investors’ bet that the new US administration will push for a quick end to the war with Russia follows comments from the incoming president during the campaign that he would end the war “within a day”, without giving specific details.

Take a break from the news

Padel, billed as tennis’s rebellious younger sibling with its relaxed dress code and emphasis on socialising, has exploded in popularity in recent years, with fans including the Princess of Wales and Stormzy. Igor Ramírez García-Peralta has a go at the racquet sport that has taken over the world.