Germany’s right wins election, Ukraine’s stalemate

Hello, this is Leonie Kidd coming to you from London.

The state is small, but the impact is huge. Voters in Saxony-Anhalt in Germany have delivered a political shock with surging support for right-wing party AfD, in a blow to Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Investors will assess other key risks this week, from Ukraine to air travel, while President Donald Trump’s pressure on the Fed will keep markets on edge.

Read on for more.

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has won an historic victory in Saxony-Anhalt state elections. The result puts the far-right party on the verge of an absolute majority at state level for the first time since World War II.

The AfD won 44.4% of the vote, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservatives trailing at 18.3%, and the center-left Social Democrats and environmental Greens both clearing the minimum threshold to enter parliament, according to an exit poll on Sunday.  

AfD’s lead candidate in Saxony-Anhalt, Ulrich Siegmund, has campaigned on a promise of strict immigration policies, abandoning the euro and reconnecting with Russia.

Trump’s envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff spent the weekend in Moscow and Kyiv, in a bid to break the deadlock in the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Despite three hours of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, the Kremlin indicated that there had not been a breakthrough.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told a press conference following the meetings in Kyiv that territorial issues should be discussed “at the levels of leaders.”

Investigators are looking into the circumstances behind the crash of an Amazon cargo plane at Miami airport on Sunday that has killed five people and left others critically injured.

The 32-year-old Boeing aircraft overran the runway at around 2 p.m. ET, crashing into vehicles on a road used for airport services.

The incident prompted over 160 flight cancellations and more than 325 delays into Sunday.

Meanwhile in Southeast Asia, hundreds of flights have been disrupted after a volcanic eruption in Indonesia.

The ash from the eruption of Mount Anak Krakatau caused havoc for aviation, impacting flight schedules across the region over the weekend.

It’s Labour Day in America, so U.S. markets are closed for trade, after falling on Friday following a surprisingly strong August jobs report. The data sparked further speculation that the Federal Reserve could consider hiking rates at its next meeting, however, Trump renewed his threats…