FirstFT: New York court releases Jeffrey Epstein documents

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A first tranche of documents released by a New York court yesterday provided a fresh glimpse into the lurid world of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his dealings with a cast of powerful men, from Wall Street figures to former US president Bill Clinton and Britain’s Prince Andrew.

The documents’ publication — ordered by a judge last month after spending years under seal or redacted — had been hotly anticipated by a public still eager to understand the enigma of Epstein and the extent of his crimes.

The papers emerged from a 2015 civil defamation lawsuit filed against the British socialite and Epstein’s longtime partner Ghislaine Maxwell by one of his victims. This is what we discovered from the documents.

Here’s what else I will be keeping tabs on today:

• Earnings: Pharmacy group Walgreens Boots and consumer packaged food company ConAgra Brands report results.

• Economic data: S&P Global publishes US services purchasing managers’ indices and we also get November jobless claims from private sector payroll services provider ADP.

• Blinken in Middle East: The US secretary of state departs for a multi-day visit that will include Israel and other nations as the US continues diplomatic consultations amid the Israel-Hamas war.

Five more top stories

1. Hassan Nasrallah, influential leader of the Lebanese militant group Hizbollah, has vowed revenge against Israel following the killing of a senior Hamas leader in Beirut. Nasrallah delivered his threat in a televised speech just 24 hours after Saleh al-Arouri, Hamas’s deputy political leader, died in an explosion in Beirut. Raya Jalabi in Beirut has more reaction to the speech.

• Go deeper: The death of Arouri, who helped found Hamas’s military wing, marks a significant blow to the group and risks escalating hostilities.

• More news from the region: Iran has condemned a “terrorist act” and vowed retribution after at least 95 people were killed in two bomb blasts at a ceremony to mark the death of a military commander.

2. Activity in China’s services sector expanded at the fastest pace in five months in December, according to the Caixin services purchasing managers’ index. The closely watched private sector survey will be welcomed by policymakers in Beijing following a faltering performance by the world’s second-largest economy last year. Companies surveyed said their outlook for the year ahead was improving.

Analysis of the Chinese economy: Wall Street forecasters are keeping the faith that government measures will revive the Chinese market this year.

3. Donald Trump has asked the US Supreme Court to overturn a decision to ban him from Colorado’s presidential primary, setting the stage for the nation’s highest court to decide whether states can stop the former president from seeking higher office for his role in the January 6 2021 attack on the US Capitol. Here’s more from the petition filed by Trump’s lawyers yesterday.

4. Exclusive: The EU should streamline a defence industry held back by member states’ focus on their own national champions, the head of Leonardo has urged — even if it meant governments giving up “a bit of national sovereignty”. In his first interview since taking the helm of the Italian aerospace and defence group, Roberto Cingolani said the Ukraine war had served as a wake-up call for the European defence industry. Read his full interview with the FT.

• More defence industry news: Britain’s biggest defence contractor, BAE Systems, is to restart production of parts for the M777 howitzer for the US Army as demand for the artillery weapon has surged following its performance in Ukraine.

5. Most Federal Reserve officials wanted to keep borrowing costs high “for some time”, according to minutes of their meeting in December, adding to doubts that the US central bank is poised to begin cutting interest rates as early as March. While officials expressed optimism that the Fed was quelling inflation, they were also careful not to commit to any immediate loosening of monetary policy.

For more on rate-setters’ battle with inflation, premium subscribers can sign up for our Central Banks newsletter by Chris Giles. Or, upgrade your subscription here.

The Big Read

In the end, 2023 was a reminder that most years turn out to be a mix of the surprising and the predictable. The year played out as if the pandemic had never happened. Markets surged, and the widely anticipated global recession never came. But not all the purely contrarian bets would have paid off: Europe’s economy fell farther behind the US, and American megacap tech stocks again led the charge. What trends will evolve this year? Ruchir Sharma gives his top 10 predictions for 2024.

We’re also reading . . . 

Chart of the day

Once ridiculed by Elon Musk, China’s BYD is now the biggest producer of battery-powered cars in the world. The story of Wang Chuanfu, the professor-turned-executive who has driven BYD’s rise over the past decade, has become gospel in Chinese business schools. Edward White and Peter Campbell profile the man simply known as “The Chairman”.

Take a break from the news

From boating in Arizona to opera in Versailles, don’t miss this month-by-month guide to travel for the year ahead, which details 43 holidays to take in 2024.

Additional reporting by Tee Zhuo and Emily Goldberg