Donald Trump turns up the heat on Nicolás Maduro

Good morning and welcome again. In at this time’s e-newsletter:

• US seizes oil tanker off Venezuelan coast

• Federal Reserve cuts charges to three-year low

• The very best worst hostile takeovers ever

• And the menace to New York’s ‘underground’ poker golf equipment

We begin at this time with the US seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela as President Donald Trump expands his crackdown on drug traffickers primarily based within the nation and raises stress on President Nicolás Maduro.

Right here’s what we all know: US attorney-general Pam Bondi mentioned the tanker was transporting crude oil from Venezuela and Iran that was the topic of sanctions, in a press release on X. Her assertion was accompanied by a video of the safety operation.

At a White Home occasion, Trump mentioned the US had “simply seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela . . . [the] largest one ever seized”. And with out providing any additional particulars of the operation, he added: “Different issues are taking place, so that you’ll be seeing that later.”

Analysts mentioned the vessel was a big crude service able to transporting about 2mn barrels of oil. The seizure initially prompted oil costs to rise sharply though they’ve since fallen again. Brent crude is at the moment buying and selling down 34 cents at $61.87 per barrel whereas WTI, the US benchmark, is down 31 cents at $58.15.

Why it issues: The operation comes as Trump weighs taking navy motion on Venezuelan soil and raises the stress on Venezuela’s president, who the US accuses of working “one of many largest prison organisations that exist within the [western] hemisphere”. The US has amassed its largest navy build-up within the Caribbean Sea because the 1962 Cuban Missile Disaster in what’s broadly seen as an effort to stress Maduro to depart energy. “His days are numbered,” Trump mentioned of Maduro in an interview this week.

Venezuela, a founding member of Opec, boasts the world’s largest confirmed oil reserves. On the flip of the century it produced about 3mn barrels a day however mismanagement, corruption and “most stress” sanctions imposed throughout Trump’s first time period led output to crater. Many of the nation’s oil exports are shipped to China through intermediaries, usually at a steep low cost. US oil firm Chevron has a licence to function within the nation.

In a speech in Caracas yesterday Maduro didn’t point out the seizure of the tanker, although he struck a defiant tone in direction of the US. “Anybody who needs Venezuelan oil should respect the regulation and nationwide sovereignty,” Maduro mentioned. “We are going to by no means once more be an oil colony.”

• Extra information on Venezuela: Opposition chief María Corina Machado has appeared in Oslo, the place she travelled to accept her Nobel Peace Prize after slipping out of hiding for the primary time in additional than a 12 months.

Right here’s what else we’re protecting tabs on at this time:

• Markets: A warning from cloud company Oracle has set the tone in markets. Oracle shares fell greater than 11 per cent in after-hours buying and selling and the S&P 500 is anticipated to open decrease as investor worries about AI return. Right here’s the latest from market reporter Emily Herbert.

• Financial information: Brazil’s statistics company is anticipated to launch October retail gross sales and Argentina experiences November inflation. The Inter-American Growth Financial institution will publish its annual report on Latin America and the Caribbean.

• Rates of interest: The central banks of Peru and Switzerland announce their newest resolution on borrowing prices.

• Firms: Canadian low cost retailer Dollarama, networking chipmaker Broadcom and Lululemon Athletica are scheduled to publish third-quarter outcomes. Costco Wholesale releases first-quarter numbers.

• Congress: The US Senate will vote on a pair of healthcare plans, one backed by the bulk Republicans and one by the minority Democrats meant to deal with expiring Inexpensive Care Act subsidies.

Has there been a ‘vibe shift’ in politics and tradition since Donald Trump’s return to the White Home? Be a part of FT columnist Jemima Kelly who will likely be answering readers’ questions later today.

5 extra high tales

1. The Federal Reserve has reduce rates of interest to a three-year low after a divisive assembly that uncovered deep fractures within the central financial institution over whether or not to prioritise tackling a weakening jobs market or excessive inflation. Policymakers famous “downside risks to employment rose in recent months” whereas indicating that inflation remained “considerably elevated”.

2. Volodymyr Zelenskyy held talks yesterday with US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent, Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and BlackRock boss Larry Fink about Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction. Learn the newest on discussions to end the conflict.

3. A coalition of 42 US attorneys-general has written a letter to main synthetic intelligence firms, demanding higher safeguards and testing of chatbots. The warning provides to rising stress on expertise firms over customers who develop damaging emotional attachments with AI chatbots and so-called companions.

4. The top of Canada’s largest pension fund has warned non-public credit score “is a purchaser beware” market. John Graham, chief government of Canada Pension Plan Funding Board, mentioned whereas non-public credit score served a helpful function within the system, distributing threat broadly, he had issues over the “velocity at which offers are getting executed”. Read the full interview.

5. Residents of nations together with the UK and France should disclose the previous 5 years of their social media historical past to go to the US although they’re lined by visa waiver schemes, beneath new proposals by the Trump administration. The brand new guidelines are prone to elevate issues within the US journey trade ahead of next year’s football World Cup.

At present’s large learn

Shell and BP sought to rework their companies to chop emissions. However neither effort lasted and so they ended up scaling again the transition, writing off billions of {dollars} as items have been bought off or shut. Discover out what went fallacious with their plans for a green revolution.

We’re additionally studying and listening to . . . 

• M&A: Alphaville’s Bryce Elder rounds up the 10 best worst hostile takeovers ever, beginning with Charles Clore’s takeover of J Sears & Co in 1953.

• The Wolf-Krugman Trade 🎧: The US just lately issued its new nationwide safety technique. Martin Wolf and Paul Krugman discuss the implications.

• China’s $1tn commerce surplus: Thomas Hale and Haohsiang Ko explain why China’s commerce surplus with the US has fallen however elevated with south-east Asia and Europe.

• Vacation stress: Enterprise administration instruments may also help you navigate by means of the demands of Christmas, writes Tim Harford.

Chart of the day

Paramount’s bid for Warner Bros provides a uncommon alternative for Gulf traders to accumulate a sizeable stake in a high US media model. Shopping for into Hollywood’s mental property can be according to efforts to diversify the economies of Gulf states. 

Take a break from the information . . . 

The approval of three new licences for casinos in New York has prompted alarm among the many metropolis’s poker gamers. John Ganz, a recurring gambler, who performs poker at the least as soon as every week, describes the romantic, and sometimes dangerous, attraction of New York’s many non-public video games and “underground” poker golf equipment.