Federal Reserve set for divisive final 2025 rate decision
FT News Briefing
Forhecz Topher
4.4 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 8 December 2025
⏱️ 13 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Europe seeks to rally support for Ukraine as US pressure builds, and there’s likely to be plenty of debate ahead of the Federal Reserve’s final rate decision of the year. Plus, how Netflix’s blockbuster Warner Brothers Discovery buy could reshape entertainment.
Mentioned in this podcast:
European allies to rally support for Ukraine as US pressure mounts
France shielding €18bn Russian asset pot from EU ‘reparations loan’ push
Fed expected to cut rates despite deep divisions over US economic outlook
Donald Trump drives historic shift of power from investors to boardrooms
Hollywood fears job cuts as opposition to Netflix-Warner deal grows
Note: The FT does not use generative AI to voice its podcasts
Today’s FT News Briefing was hosted by Victoria Craig, and produced by Julia Webster and Marc Filippino. Our show was mixed by Alex Higgins. Additional help from Peter Barber. The FT’s acting co-head of audio is Topher Forhecz. The show’s theme music is by Metaphor Music.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Monday, December 8th, and this is your FT News briefing. |
| 0:10.5 | European leaders are meeting today to shore up support for Ukraine, and the Fed's final meeting of the year could feature the most divided rate decision in years. |
| 0:20.2 | Plus, a look inside the entertainment mega merger |
| 0:22.9 | that few actually saw coming. Kind of out of nowhere, Netflix has come and swooped in this |
| 0:28.6 | audacious $83 billion enterprise value deal to buy one of the most storied and revered studios of old |
| 0:36.2 | Hollywood. I'm Victoria Craig, and here's the news you need to start your day. |
| 0:49.9 | Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky will meet European leaders in London today as they try to rally support for Kiev, which is under pressure from the White House to agree a peace deal with Russia. |
| 1:01.1 | The European Commission is pursuing a plan for a, quote, reparations loan to Ukraine. |
| 1:05.9 | That would be backed by frozen Russian central bank assets. |
| 1:09.3 | But there's mounting frustration at France, which is withheld |
| 1:12.2 | details about which institution holds the second biggest stash of frozen Russian funds. |
| 1:18.3 | France has kept the details under wraps, claiming issues of client confidentiality. Belgium wants |
| 1:23.5 | holdings from other countries, including those in France, included in any reparations |
| 1:28.0 | plans in order to spread the financial and political risk. But Paris argues that assets held |
| 1:33.6 | at commercial banks are subject to different legal obligations than those at Brussels-based |
| 1:38.8 | securities depository, Euroclear, where the main holding of Russian assets are held. |
| 1:53.9 | This week brings the final Federal Reserve meeting of the year, and economists are expecting one last cut to America's benchmark interest rate. |
| 1:57.5 | But there are deep divisions within the central bank about the future path of rate cuts, |
| 2:02.2 | especially as political pressure on the Fed continues. So what's on tap for the week ahead? The FT's |
| 2:07.5 | U.S. economics editor, Claire Jones, joins me now. Hi, Claire. Hi, Victoria. So what is the latest |
| 2:13.7 | chatter on this December rate decision? So in the run-up, there's been a lot of uncertainty |
| 2:19.1 | about what's going to happen at the final Fed meeting of the year. There's some people on the |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 10 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Forhecz Topher, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Forhecz Topher and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.