ADP Representative (5:00)

I agreed with Biden and agreed with the American Congress. I'm grateful to Congress. Both parties were present and supported the grants. A grant is not a loan and we don't have to repay the debt.

Luke Vargas (5:10)

Trump administration officials this weekend urged Kyiv to quickly accept the proposal already on the table. And the first phase of a fragile ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas drew closer to completion over the weekend, when six Israeli hostages, the last to be released until the next phase of the deal negotiated, were handed over in ceremonies in which the men were forced to wave to crowds and one kissed militants. Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners were also supposed to be released from Israeli custody on Saturday. However, Israel says it's temporarily withholding their release until Hamas stops staging what it called humiliating hostage handovers. Hamas says Israel's move violates the ceasefire. President Trump's Middle east envoy, Steve Witkoff, is heading to the region this week to try and hash out the next phase of the ceasefire. If agreed it would lead to a permanent ceasefire and Hamas release of its remaining hostages. However, we report today that Israel is trying to push Hamas to extend the first phase of the ceasefire in a bid to put off discussing the hardest parts of a pact to end the war. Coming up, German stocks and bonds are ticking higher after weekend elections look set to usher in a business friendly government. We'll recap the vote with our bureau chief in Berlin after the break.

NetSuite Representative (6:39)

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Oracle Representative (7:02)

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Luke Vargas (7:13)

Let'S turn now to Berlin to get some analysis on yesterday's German elections. The winner of that vote, Conservative Friedrich Mertz of the Christian Democratic Union, while current Chancellor Olaf Schulz' Democratic Party scored its worst election result since the late 1800s. To put this all into context, I'm joined by the Journal's Germany bureau chief, Bertrand Benoit. Bertrand, for those of us with no knowledge of German politics, what should we know about Merz? His domestic politics, of course, but especially how he'll be expected to work with the rest of Europe and of course.

Bertrand Benoit (7:47)

The US Merz is an establishment conservative. He has a pretty middle of the road conservative agenda. But the twist now is is that he has said that Europe would need to become more independent of the US and that's of course related to the support that some people around Trump gave to the right wing AfD, which is a rival of the CDU party, Merz's party, during the campaign.

Luke Vargas (8:15)

For anyone listening, if Merz's CDU party sounds familiar, that's because that was Angela Merkel's party. So in some ways, Bertrand maybe German politics reverting back to some of the norms of recent decades. And yet so much has changed, of course, namely with the rise of the Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, that had seen a real rise in popularity in recent years thanks to concern over high levels of immigration. A party that recently received the backing of Elon Musk, the AFD last night secured almost 21% of the vote, the second highest vote total. What should we make of that.

Bertrand Benoit (8:48)

So the meta picture here is that the whole country has lurched to the right in a way much like the whole of Europe has. So it's not just the rise of the AfD. Metz has pushed his party back to the right after Merkel pushed it to the center, and he's campaigned for a much more conservative agenda, including on the economy and immigration. The FDA is aligned with the CDU on some issues, but it's also very, very different on other issues. It's called for the lifting of sanctions. On Russia, it's pretty Moscow friendly. It's also in favor of Germany leaving the European Union and abandoning the euro. And it's a little bit ambivalent about Germany's culture of Holocaust commemoration. The FDS called for Germany to stop emphasizing that part of its history, which again sits very uncomfortably with the cdu.

Luke Vargas (9:39)

Finally, Bertrand, it sounds like up next will be talks to form a new government, a process that's taken months in the past and could take that long again. However, markets are already seeming to breathe a sigh of relief here. German government bond yields are edging higher today, as is the euro. But beyond those early moves, what is the outlook here for the German economy under merits?

Bertrand Benoit (10:00)

So I think the market reaction reflects the thinking that Meirz's path to forming a government is probably a little easier than it might have been had we had a more split parliament. Merz has called for tax cuts and lower regulation and generally a pro business supply side economic program. The spd, the likely coalition partner, wants the state to invest a lot more and that could also boost growth. So the market market is seeing an outcome that is likely to be favorable for them. Whether all the policies can be agreed quickly, we'll have to see.

Luke Vargas (10:40)

Bertrand Benoit is the Wall Street Journal's Germany bureau chief. Bertrand, thank you so much.

Bertrand Benoit (10:44)

Thank you, Luke.

Luke Vargas (10:49)

And in other news that could move markets today, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery's streaming bundle, which offers Disney, Hulu and Max, is retaining more customers than Netflix. According to new data from subscription analys analytics firm antenna, about 80% of subscribers who signed up for the bundle between July and September were still paying for it three months later, compared with 74% for Netflix. Representatives from the companies declined to comment. And that's it for what's news for this Monday morning. Today's show was produced by Kate Bullivant and Daniel Bach with supervising producer Christina Rocca. And I'm Luke Vargas for the Wall Street Journal. We will be back tonight with a new show. Until then, thanks for List.

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