--:-- Alex Osula: When did making plans get this complicated? It's time to streamline with WhatsApp. The secure messaging app that brings the whole group together. Use polls to settle dinner plans. Send event invites and pin messages so no one forgets mom's 60th. And never miss a meme or milestone. All protected with end-to-end encryption. It's time for WhatsApp. Message privately with everyone. Learn more at whatsapp.com.
--:-- Alex Osula: An attack at a synagogue in the United Kingdom leaves two dead and four seriously injured. Plus, as the government shutdown continues, President Trump ratchets up pressure on Democrats. But that could backfire. Millions of Americans, including a lot of Trump voters and people in states that Trump won, receive those subsidies. And if they go away, their premiums are going to skyrocket. That's a big risk for Trump and his fellow Republicans heading into the midterms.
--:-- Alex Osula: And what drove Tesla to a new sales record last quarter? It's Thursday, October 2nd. I'm Alex Osula for The Wall Street Journal. This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today. We begin this evening with news of a violent incident in the United Kingdom.
--:-- Alex Osula: Two people were killed and four people severely injured today in a ramming and stabbing attack outside a British synagogue. Police have described the incident as a terrorist attack during the Jewish Holy Day of Yom Kippur. According to police, the attacker drove a car into a group of people in the northern English city of Manchester just after 9.30 a.m. local time. He then got out and stabbed a member of the public.
--:-- Alex Osula: Security guards and worshippers stopped the man, who was wearing what looked like explosive devices, from entering the temple. Within minutes, armed officers arrived and shot the suspect dead. The attack at the Heaton Park Synagogue was the highest-profile anti-Semitic incident to hit the U.K. in the past two years.
--:-- Alex Osula: Since the start of the war in Gaza, growing numbers of British Jews say they feel increasingly isolated and unsafe amid a sharp rise in anti-Semitism. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the attack. While this is not a new hate, this is something Jews have always lived with. We must be clear, it is a hatred that is rising once again. And Britain must defeat it once again.
--:-- Alex Osula: He added that police are deploying extra security to synagogues across the UK. We're exclusively reporting that President Trump is considering providing at least $10 billion in aid to U.S. farmers as the agriculture sector warns of economic fallout from tariffs. That's according to people familiar with the discussions.
--:-- Alex Osula: They added that the president and his team are weighing using tariff revenue to fund much of the aid. The aid would likely go toward helping soybean producers as well as other parts of the farm economy. A senior administration official stressed that the deliberations are ongoing and nothing has been finalized.
--:-- Alex Osula: The government shutdown is rounding out its second day, and lawmakers remain divided. Democrats are demanding that Republicans agree to extend expiring health care subsidies, and senior Republicans say they won't negotiate as long as the government is closed.
--:-- Alex Osula: Meanwhile, the White House is pushing Democrats to come to the table, in part by threatening to turn worker furloughs into layoffs, an effort that analysts say is unprecedented. In a briefing today, White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt answered a reporter's question about how substantial the cuts may be.
--:-- Alex Osula: Look, it's likely going to be in the thousands. It's a very good question, and that's something that the Office of Management and Budget and the entire team at the White House here, again, is unfortunately having to work on today. These discussions and these conversations, these meetings would not be happening if the Democrats had voted to keep the government open.
--:-- Alex Osula: For more on where the shutdown stands, I'm joined by WSJ White House reporter Alex Leary. Alex, President Trump was scheduled today to meet with Budget Chief Russell Vogt. We haven't yet heard what's come out of that meeting, but what are we expecting?
--:-- Alex Leary: Trump is really ratcheting up the pressure here on Democrats. And this meeting, he and Russ Vogt, the budget director, will be sitting down to talk about which agencies or job cuts can be made. Trump and Republicans have long viewed the federal government as way too big and bloated.
--:-- Alex Leary: We saw with the Elon Musk-led Doge effort, significant cost cutting and job slashing. And this is seen as an opportunity to continue that work at a real pressure point and a way to punish Democrats for the shutdown.
--:-- Alex Leary: I'm curious about this, whether this presents a political risk at all for Trump and for Republicans. I mean, the showdown over the shutdown, the possibility of not extending the health care subsidies, which is really at the heart of this. Is there a risk here for him?
--:-- Alex Leary: Absolutely. Trump and the GOP definitely have some risk here. They're fighting the immediate war over messaging and in some ways are sort of dominating that, although there is some polling out today from The Washington Post that shows that more people blame Republicans for the shutdown.
--:-- Alex Leary: But the poll also said a lot of people are undecided. Broader, though, is a definite and distinct risk for Republicans over these Affordable Care Act subsidies, which are going to expire at the end of the year.
--:-- Alex Leary: Millions of Americans, including a lot of Trump voters and people in states that Trump won, receive those subsidies. And if they go away, their premiums are going to skyrocket. That's a big risk for Trump and his fellow Republicans heading into the midterms.
--:-- Alex Osula: They're aware of that. That's why we're seeing some movement from Republicans saying, let negotiate that at another time Trump is receptive to that we reporting So definitely a risk for Republicans
--:-- Alex Osula: That was WSJ White House reporter Alex Leary. Thanks, Alex.
--:-- Alex Osula: In other news, a Ukrainian team is in Washington this week to craft a landmark deal with the Trump administration that would involve Kiev sharing its battle-tested drone technology with the U.S. In exchange, Ukraine would receive royalties or other forms of compensation. That's according to officials from both countries.
--:-- Alex Osula: The prospective deal, which has the backing of President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, would be a shift in the security relationship between Washington and Kyiv. For years, the Ukrainian military has received U.S. weapons. Now, though, the Ukrainians are well ahead in mass-producing cheap unmanned aerial vehicles that have proved to be effective in battle.
--:-- Alex Osula: A U.S. government official said that finalizing the detailed agreement, which could be worth billions of dollars, is likely to take months. And two regional Delta Airlines jets collided late yesterday on a taxiway at New York City's LaGuardia Airport while traveling at low speeds.
--:-- Alex Osula: No passengers were injured and one flight attendant was transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The collision didn't impact airport operations. Delta said that it will work with authorities to review the incident.
--:-- Alex Osula: Coming up, Tesla set a new sales record. But will the good times last? More on that after the break.
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--:-- Alex Osula: Tesla said today that it set a new sales record in the third quarter as its global vehicle deliveries grew 7.4 percent compared with a year ago, beating Wall Street's expectations. It's a surprising reversal of the steep declines that have plagued the electric vehicle maker this year.
--:-- Alex Osula: Becky Peterson covers Tesla for the journal and joins me now. Becky, what was behind this pickup in sales? This is an exceptionally good quarter, especially after their sales declined two quarters in a row. They were down 13%. That was really bad performance for them for the first half of the year.
--:-- Becky Peterson: On September 30th, the $7,500 federal EV credit expired, which spurred a lot of consumers to make that purchase at the last minute. So we saw Tesla sales surge, but we also saw great sales at its competitors for GM Rivian
--:-- Becky Peterson: So does that mean that this growth in its sales numbers is kind of a one or can we expect more growth in the future So Rivian revised its numbers down for next quarter, which I think is a sign that other automakers don't expect it to last.
--:-- Becky Peterson: In the case of Tesla, Musk has already told us that they're pivoting away from selling EVs as its primary business. The next car that they're set to release is the CyberCab, which doesn't have a steering wheel or pedals. So it's hard to see how the sales numbers are going to keep up when it will require such a big shift for consumers to be buying their cars.
--:-- Becky Peterson: Does Tesla have a plan to incentivize EV buyers, or is it more preoccupied with shifting its business away from EVs? Everything we've heard from Tesla so far is about robotaxis, about its humanoid robot Optimus. I haven't heard yet from Tesla that they are going to be subsidizing the incentive the way that some other automakers announced this week.
--:-- Becky Peterson: So despite these better than expected numbers, Tesla shares were down this morning. What's going on with that? So they were down this morning, but that was after this big run-up, and actually they're up 21 percent since the beginning of the year, Tesla's stock tends to be a roller coaster. So it's not always tied to its performance.
--:-- Alex Osula: That was WSJ reporter Becky Peterson. Thanks, Becky.
--:-- Alex Osula: U.S. stocks rallied today, pushing major indexes higher. The Nasdaq led the gains, adding about 0.4 percent. The Dow was up about 0.2 percent, and the S&P 500 closed about 0.1% higher.
--:-- Alex Osula: In business news, Fair Isaac, better known as FICO, said today that it's giving mortgage lenders a way to offer its credit scores without buying them from Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. FICO says it will charge $4.95 a score, roughly half of what lenders typically pay after bureau markups.
--:-- Alex Osula: Shares of FICO surged, while the credit bureau's stocks fell sharply. And OpenAI has struck a deal with investors that values the company at about $500 billion. That's according to people familiar with the matter.
--:-- Alex Osula: A group including existing investors SoftBank and United Arab Emirates-based MGX paid about $6.6 billion to buy shares owned by OpenAI employees, the people said, finalizing a deal that began taking shape this summer.
--:-- Alex Osula: The sale speaks to the frenzy around artificial intelligence and the sky-high expectations for OpenAI. And that's what's news for this Thursday afternoon.
--:-- Alex Osula: Today's show was produced by Pierre Bien-Aimé and Roddy Davis with supervising producer Yolanda McBride. I'm Alex Osula for The Wall Street Journal. We'll be back with a new show tomorrow morning. Thanks for listening.
