FirstFT: Barack Obama warns of ‘tight race’ in rousing speech backing Kamala Harris

Good morning. The seek for survivors of a superyacht that sank off the Sicilian coast continues this morning, and we’ve an in-depth learn on why the US is backing a $10bn railway venture in Africa.

However first, we flip to Chicago, the place Barack Obama has simply delivered a rousing speech to cheering crowds on the Democratic Nationwide Conference.

The previous US president, who stays one of many occasion’s hottest and influential figures, used his political star energy to attempt to quash any doubts over Kamala Harris’s candidacy and warning voters towards complacency, warning it might be a “tight race” for the White Home.

Some Democrats have tried to attract parallels between Obama’s win in 2008, when he was elected the primary Black US president, and Harris’s bid to grow to be the nation’s first feminine president. As he took the stage, Obama was met with chants of his personal marketing campaign slogan, “Yes we can”, later echoed by his personal phrases in help of the vice-president: “Yes she can.”

Obama’s speech deployed among the hovering rhetoric he’s identified for, but additionally mocked Donald Trump as a “whining” self-interested billionaire and conspiracy theorist whose act had gone “pretty stale”. Talking instantly earlier than him, his spouse and former first woman Michelle Obama additionally hit out at Trump. Right here’s extra from the Obamas and different audio system on the second night time of the conference.

• Chicago protests: Lower than two miles from the conference, police and protesters clashed outdoors the Israeli consulate, resulting in arrests of pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

• Kamalanomics: Good coverage, or good politics? Steff Chávez discusses Harris’s financial agenda within the newest version of US Election Countdown. Join the publication right here.

Right here’s what else I’m preserving tabs on in the present day:

• Financial information: The UK releases July public sector borrowing information and South Africa has its shopper worth index for a similar month.

• Federal Reserve: The central financial institution’s rate-setting committee releases minutes from its final assembly, forward of a speech by chair Jay Powell at Jackson Gap on Friday.

• Sicily yacht sinking: The seek for UK tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and 5 different passengers is ready to proceed this morning as Italian authorities mentioned probabilities they have been nonetheless alive have been now “minimal”.

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5 extra high tales

1. Nearly $90bn poured into US cash market funds within the first half of this month as traders sought to lock in enticing yields that would outlast an anticipated rate of interest lower by the Federal Reserve subsequent month. Many of the inflows originated from institutional traders reasonably than retail traders. Learn the complete story.

2. A US decide has blocked the Federal Commerce Fee’s ban on non-compete agreements, saying the regulator lacked the authority to cease agreements that bar workers from getting new jobs at rival corporations. In a call yesterday, the decide from Texas known as the FTC’s ban “arbitrary and capricious”.

3. Unique: China has disbursed solely a fraction of a flagship central financial institution fund designed to rescue property builders as authorities wrestle to chop an enormous inventory of unsold houses and finish a protracted actual property stoop. Beijing’s coverage responses have emphasised market-based lending, however they’ve run right into a difficult financial backdrop. Joe Leahy and Thomas Hale have the complete story.

4. Unique: The UK chancellor is planning to lift social rents by greater than inflation for the subsequent 10 years in an try to spice up the constructing of reasonably priced houses. Authorities insiders say Rachel Reeves plans to introduce the measure in October’s Funds to supply extra certainty over money flows to housing associations and councils. Extra particulars on her plans.

5. A Canadian railway strike might have a “devastating” affect on the continent’s economic system, enterprise teams have warned. About 9,300 employees have threatened unprecedented motion as quickly as tomorrow towards the nation’s two largest freight railways, which stretch into the US, with one reaching Mexico. Listed below are the crucial industries that may be disrupted.

The Massive Learn

The US helps to finance the Lobito Hall, a revival of a 100-year-old railway line that can join resource-rich Democratic Republic of Congo to Angola’s Atlantic coast. The bold venture will value at the least $10bn and includes different infrastructure together with bridges and roads. However Washington’s help for crucial minerals throughout the broader area isn’t any remoted act. It’s a part of a method to reverse its diminished affect in Africa, the place different nations similar to China have gained floor. 

We’re additionally studying . . . 

• Local weather claptrap: From Elon Musk to Venture 2025, deceptive twaddle on local weather change simply retains on coming, writes Pilita Clark.

• UK politics: A think-tank arrange when Margaret Thatcher was prime minister has been quietly supplying the brand new Labour authorities with insurance policies and MPs.

• Bond market: The charges market is meant to be the place the actual brains are, writes Katie Martin, however the sector has been displaying memestock-like tendencies.

Chart of the day

The greenback hit its lowest stage because the begin of the yr yesterday as traders braced for the Federal Reserve to start out reducing rates of interest and the August sell-off that spooked markets light.

Take a break from the information

Because the seventh baby of the twenty fifth son of the founding father of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman was not destined for the throne when he entered politics in 2009. A brand new BBC documentary charting his formidable rise paints a Machiavellian portrait of the crown prince, writes Dan Einav.

Further contributions from Benjamin Wilhelm and Harvey Nriapia