Wednesday Morning Briefing: Democrats have leads in Rust Belt states that Trump won - poll

Highlights

An Indiana U.S. Senator seen as one of the chamber’s most vulnerable Democrats has a slight edge while four of his Rust Belt Democratic colleagues have solid leads in states President Donald Trump won in 2016, a Reuters poll found.

With the Federal Reserve widely expected to raise interest rates, financial markets are focused on whether signs of an acceleration in U.S. economic growth will prompt the central bank to ramp up the pace of monetary policy tightening.

The United States would have most to lose if it started a trade war with other countries, while China would be better off after retaliating, a simulation by the European Central Bank showed.

Brexit

With only six months until Britain is due to leave the European Union, some politicians and economists expect the split will damage the City, while Brexit supporters say it will benefit from being able to set its own rules. Reuters tracks the fortunes of London’s financial heartland through a series of indicators.

A timeline significant dates as Britain nears its departure from the EU in March. With the United Kingdom due to leave the European Union, negotiations are at what Prime Minister Theresa May has called an impasse. If she can clinch a deal with the EU, she will still have to sell it to her divided Conservative Party and win parliamentary approval. If she cannot, the United Kingdom could face leaving without a deal, a national election or even another referendum.

World

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said a Turkish court, not politicians, will decide the fate of an American pastor whose detention on terrorism charges has hit relations between Ankara and Washington.

Bangladesh’s leader accused neighboring Myanmar of finding new excuses to delay the return of more than 700,000 Rohingya who were forced across the border over the past year, and said in an interview that under no circumstance would the refugees remain permanently in her already crowded country. Follow the latest on Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who have been imprisoned in Myanmar.

Japanese lunar exploration startup Ispace said it has signed up for launches on Elon Musk’s SpaceX rockets in 2020 and 2021, its first step towards offering services such as searching for water on the moon.

Commentary: The United Nations, a more muscular and inclusive body than its predecessor, the League of Nations, is badly in need of reform. On issues such as Syria, the South China Sea and wider human rights, its Security Council is comprehensively deadlocked. The Council’s five permanent members – Britain, France and the United States on one side, Russia and China the other – are increasingly at loggerheads. But despite its flaws, the U.N. has real worth, writes Reuters global affairs columnist Peter Apps.

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Business

Exclusive: JPMorgan in talks to lead Lyft's IPO - sources

JPMorgan Chase is in talks about leading Lyft’s upcoming initial public offering as an underwriter, after rivals Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley decided not to pursue such a role out of loyalty to another IPO hopeful, Lyft’s larger competitor Uber, according to people familiar with the matter.

4 min read

China to boost $3.8 trillion digital economy, Xi calls for self-reliance

China pledged to expand its $3.8 trillion digital economy and create jobs in new sectors such as big data and artificial intelligence (AI) as the world’s second-biggest economy looks to shift away from a reliance on polluting heavy industries.

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