FirstFT: Assist for Joe Biden wavers amongst Democratic donors

Good morning. Joe Biden’s efficiency at a high-stakes press convention later this night will likely be underneath intense scrutiny as strain on him to stop the presidential race mounts.

Even because the US president prepares to shut this 12 months’s Nato summit in Washington, Democratic donors are warning that funding for the November election effort is “drying up” due to his refusal to step apart, threatening to undermine the occasion’s effort to defeat Donald Trump.

The rising willingness of rich backers to stroll away from the marketing campaign, talked about in interviews with donors from Wall Avenue to Hollywood, poses a brand new existential threat to Biden’s re-election if he stays in a White Home race anticipated to be the costliest in US historical past. Right here’s what longtime donors are saying.

• Twin blows: Celebration veteran Nancy Pelosi stated yesterday that Biden had a “decision” to make about his future, and actor George Clooney known as for a brand new nominee in an opinion piece for The New York Occasions.

• Assist dips: On the day of the June 27 debate, nationwide polling averages between Biden and Trump had been tied. Since then, they’ve sharply diverged.

Will Biden keep, or stop? Join for our US Election Countdown e-newsletter for the newest updates on the presidential race. And right here’s what else I’m maintaining tabs on right this moment:

• Nato summit: Biden known as the UK “the knot tying the transatlantic alliance together”, tacitly endorsing Sir Keir Starmer’s plan for nearer EU ties, whereas the primary donated F-16 fighter jets are anticipated to succeed in Ukraine quickly. Learn our FT View on the army alliance’s troublesome seventy fifth 12 months as its gathering in Washington concludes.

• Financial information: The US and Germany report June inflation figures whereas the UK publishes its Could GDP estimate. The Worldwide Vitality Company has its oil market report.

• Firms: Updates are anticipated from Hays, Severn Trent, Wooden Group and Workspace Group, whereas PepsiCo and Jet2 have outcomes.

5 extra prime tales

1. Unique: PwC has warned its 26,000 UK workers that it’s going to pay decrease bonuses in some divisions and hand out smaller wage will increase because the Large 4 agency battles “challenging market conditions”. PwC has additionally curtailed a pandemic-era perk of permitting workers to take a half-day on Fridays through the summer time, decreasing the profit from eight weeks final 12 months to 6 weeks. Simon Foy has extra particulars from London.

2. Traders are promoting out of the riskiest US junk bonds in favour of higher-quality debt, with the hole in borrowing prices of essentially the most and least dangerous debt rising nearly to its widest since final Could. The pattern comes amid a surge in chapter filings and considerations over how the weakest corners of company America will survive a protracted interval of excessive rates of interest. Learn the total story.

3. Viktor Orbán’s solo journey to see Vladimir Putin in Moscow final week contravened EU treaties which forbid any “measure which could jeopardise the attainment of the Union’s objectives”, the bloc’s authorized service stated in response to individuals acquainted with the matter. The individuals added that the Hungarian premier additionally violated a authorized provision that calls on all members to carry out overseas coverage actions “unreservedly in a spirit of loyalty and mutual solidarity”.

4. Regulators have accepted the most important overhaul of guidelines for London-listed corporations in three many years because the UK makes an attempt to revive its capital markets, which have been pummelled by worldwide competitors and an outflow of funding. The brand new regime will come into pressure on July 29. Right here’s what the adjustments introduced right this moment entail.

5. Citigroup pays $135.6mn to US banking regulators for compliance failures in threat management and information administration, the newest black eye for the lender and its chief govt Jane Fraser, whose tenure has been stricken by regulatory points. Right here’s extra on the “long-standing deficiencies” on the financial institution.

The Large Learn

Because the eyes of the world have been centered on the devastation in Gaza, the Israel-occupied West Financial institution has been hit by a mixture of surging settler violence, escalating army raids, intensified settlement enlargement and stifling financial strain. The strikes have accelerated the decades-long entrenchment of Jewish settlements — which most international locations think about unlawful. The outcome has been to additional undermine the tottering Palestinian Authority, simply because the worldwide neighborhood is pushing for it to manage each the West Financial institution and Gaza as soon as the warfare between Israel and Hamas is over.

We’re additionally studying . . . 

• UK immigration: The brand new Labour authorities faces a acquainted trade-off between the economics and the politics of overseas employees, writes Alan Beattie.

• Emmanuel Macron: A weakened French president distracted by home issues is proving even much less palatable to Europe than one who used to ruffle feathers together with his daring schemes.

• Conflict in Ukraine: Kyiv has launched hundreds of convicts to bolster its forces, after being initially reluctant to repeat a tactic Russia adopted early in its invasion.

Chart of the day

The variety of millionaires is about to rise in 52 out of 56 international locations by 2028, in response to a examine by UBS. The UK and the Netherlands have bucked this worldwide pattern, with Britain anticipated to lose essentially the most millionaires of any nation.

Take a break from the information

Renovating your own home? FT Weekend columnist Luke Edward Corridor recommends asking your self what tales you need your home to inform — considering its type, age and structure — then allow them to run wild.

Extra contributions from Benjamin Wilhelm and Gordon Smith