Good morning. Today we’re covering:
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Airbnb’s warning about weak consumer demand
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The risks to Apple after Google’s landmark antitrust case loss
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China’s plans to co-operate with the US to curb fentanyl spread
But first, vice-president Kamala Harris announced Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her running mate for November’s election yesterday, making their first joint public appearance at a rally in Philadelphia to thousands of rapturous fans.
Walz has a record of winning over voters in the Midwest, having represented a largely rural district in congress from 2007 to 2019. His folksy, colloquial appeal could also help counterbalance perceptions that Harris represents a Californian elite, analysts have said.
At the rally, they championed the Democratic offering as one that defends personal freedoms, including on abortion rights and safety from gun violence. This represents a shift in strategy from the Biden-Harris pitch, which led with a pledge to defend democracy.
Notably, the duo sidestepped the thorny economic and foreign policy questions that could dominate the race for the White House. Moreover, the Trump campaign has since attacked Walz as a radical leftist.
But, speaking yesterday, Walz said of the former president: “Donald Trump — he sees the world differently. He doesn’t know the first thing about service — because he’s too busy serving himself.”
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And here’s what I’m keeping tabs on today:
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Results: Shopify, Ralph Lauren, Inter & Co, McKesson, Bumble, Warner Bros Discovery, Robinhood, Beyond Meat, Lyft, Maersk, Novo Nordisk and Walt Disney report.
Five more top stories
1. Cori Bush, a leftwing representative from Missouri, has become the second member of the Democratic party’s progressive “Squad” to be ousted by a mainstream primary challenger this year. Bush was defeated in the party primary yesterday by Wesley Bell, a local prosecutor.
2. The Biden administration has said that China will impose controls on the production of chemicals critical to producing fentanyl, after having pressured Beijing to take action for several years. The drug claimed nearly 75,000 American lives last year, according to official estimates.
3. Airbnb warned yesterday that more cautious US consumers would weigh on sales in what is normally its peak quarter, making it the latest in a string of companies struggling with weaker consumer demand.
4. The US has warned Turkey of “consequences” over exports to Russia of US military-linked hardware, including chips and other components playing crucial roles in the war in Ukraine.
5. Hamas has chosen Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the October 7 attack, to be its new political leader. Sinwar, who is Israel’s most wanted man, has a hardline approach which could toughen ceasefire talks, analysts have said.
News in-depth
Coca-Cola could owe $16bn in back taxes after hiding “astronomical levels” of profits in low-tax countries to shield it from the US Internal Revenue Service, according to a withering court judgment which the company plans to appeal. The mounting stakes have been visible only in the fine print of Coke’s regulatory filings in recent years, thanks to this quirk of accounting rules.
We’re also reading . . .
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Big Tech: Billions of dollars in payments that have flowed between Apple and Google could be at risk after a landmark antitrust verdict against the search giant.
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Federal Reserve: The Federal Reserve will not let markets dictate a rate cut and the stock market is not the economy, Professor Barry Eichengreen writes.
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Cancer: Rising rates of the disease among young people have profound public health implications, writes Anjana Ahuja. What could be the culprit?
Chart of the day
Is the world’s largest economy headed for a recession? Most economists believe jittery investors have overplayed fears and a “soft landing” is still more likely, but the years of bumper growth are over.
Take a break from the news
The best Modernist houses are not usually in cities, but São Paulo is the exception, the FT’s Edwin Heathcote writes. The Brazilian city is replete with inventive, experimental houses that punctuate the urban fabric, hidden down tight streets and lurking amid remnants of rainforest. Read more about the new annual art show trying to preserve this fragile architectural legacy here.
Additional contributions from Tee Zhuo and Benjamin Wilhelm
Read the full article here