Trump-backed candidate wins Ohio Republican main

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Good morning. Donald Trump-backed Bernie Moreno received the intently watched Republican main contest in Ohio, establishing a contest in opposition to longtime Democratic senator Sherrod Brown in what is sort of sure to be one of the hotly contested congressional races this November.

The Related Press known as the three-way Republican main for Moreno, a former luxurious automotive dealership proprietor, simply over an hour after the polls closed final night time.

Moreno’s victory in Ohio will probably be seen as a victory for Trump, and the newest demonstration of the previous president’s enduring grip on the Republican grassroots.

Moreno defeated Matt Dolan, a extra average state legislator who had obtained the endorsement of Mike DeWine, the state’s in style Republican governor. Many Democrats had additionally rooted for Moreno, betting that the Trump-aligned candidate can be simpler for Brown to beat in a normal election. However political observers say Brown, chair of the highly effective Senate banking committee, faces a battle to retain his seat in November.

• Extra 2024 election information: Billionaire investor John Paulson will host a Florida fundraiser for Donald Trump subsequent month as the previous president races to boost funds and match President Joe Biden’s marketing campaign.

Signal as much as the US Election Countdown e-newsletter to observe the newest on the marketing campaign from Washington reporter Steff Chávez.

Right here’s what I’m watching at present:

• Federal Reserve: The US central financial institution is predicted to carry rates of interest on the conclusion of its two-day coverage assembly however buyers will probably be targeted on the post-meeting press convention when Jay Powell updates the Fed’s rate of interest outlook. Brazil’s central financial institution additionally declares its newest financial coverage determination and the Financial institution of Canada releases minutes from its March 6 coverage assembly.

• Outcomes: Basic Mills, the corporate behind Cheerios cereal and Häagen-Dazs ice cream, stories third-quarter earnings. Signet Jewelers, low cost retailer 5 Beneath, pet retailer Chewy, homebuilder KB House and chipmaker Micron additionally report outcomes at present.

• Financial information: Argentina releases fourth-quarter gross home product and employment statistics. Economists anticipate the nation’s financial system to have contracted 1.5 per cent in contrast with a 12 months earlier.

• Israel-Hamas conflict: US secretary of state Antony Blinken returns to the Center East to push for a deal to safe a short lived pause in combating and the discharge of hostages held by Hamas.

5 extra prime tales

1. Intel is to obtain $8.5bn in direct funding and $11bn in loans from the US authorities to develop its capability to make high-end chips, because it seeks to reinvent itself as a nationwide champion. US President Joe Biden will journey to Intel’s website in Chandler, Arizona, considered one of a handful of swing states that can resolve the election, later at present to announce the bundle as he tries to spice up his languishing approval rankings on the financial system. Right here’s extra on what to anticipate.

2. The top of Europe’s largest munitions maker has stated EU leaders ought to take into account putting in short-range air defence techniques just like Israel’s Iron Dome. The feedback by Armin Papperger, chief government of Rheinmetall, come as EU capitals are boosting navy spending amid elevated fears of Russia’s menace to the continent. Papperger stated short-range air defence was “one thing they wish to create in Europe”. Learn extra from his interview with the Monetary Instances.

3. Microsoft has employed Mustafa Suleyman, the co-founder of Google’s DeepMind and chief government of synthetic intelligence start-up Inflection, to run a brand new client AI unit. Suleyman, a British entrepreneur who co-founded DeepMind in London in 2010, will report back to Microsoft chief government Satya Nadella, the corporate introduced yesterday. Right here’s extra on Microsoft’s plans for its new client AI unit.

4. Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday insisted Israel would launch a floor assault on Rafah, regardless of stress from the US to not perform a big operation within the Gazan metropolis the place tons of of 1000’s of persons are sheltering. Netanyahu has agreed to ship senior officers to Washington as quickly as this week to listen to the Biden administration’s ideas to realize its objectives in Rafah with out a floor invasion. Learn extra on Netanyahu’s look earlier than the Knesset’s overseas affairs and defence committee.

5. Traders are shopping for up European journey, retail and luxurious items shares, betting {that a} rebound within the area’s financial system will tempt customers to spend extra on holidays and costly objects. Fund managers have wager that pessimism over European financial progress is overdone, and their enthusiasm for shares linked to discretionary spending has partly been pushed by rising confidence that central banks have efficiently tamed inflation with out pushing economies right into a downturn.

The Huge Learn

In 2019, wanting to make Brexit a actuality, UK voters have been received over by Boris Johnson’s promise to get the job executed. The Conservatives went on to grab from Labour a sequence of largely working-class. post-industrial seats throughout northern England, the Midlands and north Wales — the so-called pink wall — in a seismic shock to Britain’s political norms. However quick ahead greater than 4 years and the Conservatives, having ejected Johnson as chief in 2022, are struggling to cling on to lots of the 50 or so pink wall seats.

We’re additionally studying and listening to . . . 

• ‘Orwellian doublethink’: When historians look again at Wall Avenue’s response to local weather change within the 2020s, they may see a lot that seems to be deeply unwise, writes Pilita Clark.

• Monetary plumbing: Because the US prepares to chop settlement time for trades from two days to 1, the apparently minor improve will put the ecosystem below one other layer of pricey pressure and additional cement US dominance, writes Katie Martin.

• Unhedged and Behind the Cash 🎧: Our podcasts be a part of forces to reply listener questions, that includes hosts Ethan Wu and Michela Tindera, plus US monetary commentator Rob Armstrong and markets editor Katie Martin.

Chart of the day

US customers paid nearly 50 per cent extra in bank card bills final 12 months than in 2020, the 12 months earlier than President Joe Biden took workplace, placing stress on household budgets and firing up an election difficulty. Knowledge reveals that bank card curiosity and charges elevated by $51bn in that point to $157bn, with delinquencies on bank card loans operating at their highest degree in nearly 13 years.

Take a break from the information

There isn’t a scarcity of nice books on the race for the White Home and the state of the US presidency and politics normally. However here’s a number of a few of the greatest books beneficial by FT specialists on the historical past and world penalties of the US elections.

Extra contributions from George Russell and Benjamin Wilhelm