FirstFT: Trump-backed candidate wins Ohio Republican primary

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Good morning. Donald Trump-backed Bernie Moreno won the closely watched Republican primary contest in Ohio, setting up a contest against longtime Democratic senator Sherrod Brown in what is almost certain to be one of the most hotly contested congressional races this November.

The Associated Press called the three-way Republican primary for Moreno, a former luxury car dealership owner, just over an hour after the polls closed last night.

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

Moreno defeated Matt Dolan, a more moderate state legislator who had received the endorsement of Mike DeWine, the state’s popular Republican governor. Many Democrats had also rooted for Moreno, betting that the Trump-aligned candidate would be easier for Brown to beat in a general election. But political observers say Brown, chair of the powerful Senate banking committee, faces a battle to retain his seat in November.

• More 2024 election news: Billionaire investor John Paulson will host a Florida fundraiser for Donald Trump next month as the former president races to raise funds and match President Joe Biden’s campaign.

Sign up to the US Election Countdown newsletter to follow the latest on the campaign from Washington reporter Steff Chávez.

Here’s what I’m watching today:

• Federal Reserve: The US central bank is expected to hold interest rates at the conclusion of its two-day policy meeting but investors will be focused on the post-meeting press conference when Jay Powell updates the Fed’s interest rate outlook. Brazil’s central bank also announces its latest monetary policy decision and the Bank of Canada releases minutes from its March 6 policy meeting.

• Results: General Mills, the company behind Cheerios cereal and Häagen-Dazs ice cream, reports third-quarter earnings. Signet Jewelers, discount store Five Below, pet retailer Chewy, homebuilder KB Home and chipmaker Micron also report results today.

• Economic data: Argentina releases fourth-quarter gross domestic product and employment statistics. Economists expect the nation’s economy to have contracted 1.5 per cent compared with a year earlier.

• Israel-Hamas war: US secretary of state Antony Blinken returns to the Middle East to push for a deal to secure a temporary pause in fighting and the release of hostages held by Hamas.

Five more top stories

1. Intel is to receive $8.5bn in direct funding and $11bn in loans from the US government to expand its capacity to make high-end chips, as it seeks to reinvent itself as a national champion. US President Joe Biden will travel to Intel’s site in Chandler, Arizona, one of a handful of swing states that will decide the election, later today to announce the package as he tries to boost his languishing approval ratings on the economy. Here’s more on what to expect.

2. The head of Europe’s largest munitions maker has said EU leaders should consider installing short-range air defence systems similar to Israel’s IronDome. The comments by Armin Papperger, chief executive of Rheinmetall, come as EU capitals are boosting military spending amid increased fears of Russia’s threat to the continent. Papperger said short-range air defence was “something they want to create in Europe”. Read more from his interview with the Financial Times.

3. Microsoft has hired Mustafa Suleyman, the co-founder of Google’s DeepMind and chief executive of artificial intelligence start-up Inflection, to run a new consumer AI unit. Suleyman, a British entrepreneur who co-founded DeepMind in London in 2010, will report to Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella, the company announced yesterday. Here’s more on Microsoft’s plans for its new consumer AI unit.

4. Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday insisted Israel would launch a ground assault on Rafah, despite pressure from the US not to carry out a large operation in the Gazan city where hundreds of thousands of people are sheltering. Netanyahu has agreed to send senior officials to Washington as soon as this week to hear the Biden administration’s suggestions to achieve its goals in Rafah without a ground invasion. Read more on Netanyahu’s appearance before the Knesset’s foreign affairs and defence committee.

5. Investors are buying up European travel, retail and luxury goods shares, betting that a rebound in the region’s economy will tempt consumers to spend more on holidays and expensive items. Fund managers have bet that pessimism over European economic growth is overdone, and their enthusiasm for stocks linked to discretionary spending has in part been driven by growing confidence that central banks have successfully tamed inflation without pushing economies into a downturn.

The Big Read

In 2019, eager to make Brexit a reality, UK voters were won over by Boris Johnson’s promise to get the job done. The Conservatives went on to seize from Labour a series of largely working-class. post-industrial seats across northern England, the Midlands and north Wales — the so-called red wall — in a seismic shock to Britain’s political norms. But fast forward more than four years and the Conservatives, having ejected Johnson as leader in 2022, are struggling to cling on to many of the 50 or so red wall seats.

We’re also reading and listening to . . . 

• ‘Orwellian doublethink’: When historians look back at Wall Street’s response to climate change in the 2020s, they will see much that looks deeply unwise, writes Pilita Clark.

• Financial plumbing: As the US prepares to cut settlement time for trades from two days to one, the apparently minor upgrade will put the ecosystem under another layer of costly strain and further cement US dominance, writes Katie Martin.

• Unhedged and Behind the Money 🎧: Our podcasts join forces to answer listener questions, featuring hosts Ethan Wu and Michela Tindera, plus US financial commentator Rob Armstrong and markets editor Katie Martin.

Chart of the day

US consumers paid almost 50 per cent more in credit card expenses last year than in 2020, the year before President Joe Biden took office, putting pressure on family budgets and firing up an election issue. Data shows that credit card interest and fees increased by $51bn in that time to $157bn, with delinquencies on credit card loans running at their highest level in almost 13 years.

Take a break from the news

There is no shortage of great books on the race for the White House and the state of the US presidency and politics in general. But here is a selection of some of the best books recommended by FT specialists on the history and global consequences of the US elections.

Additional contributions from George Russell and Benjamin Wilhelm