Biden bows out as Harris looks set to step in for Democrats

President Biden finally bowed to pressure from fellow democrats after a disastrous few weeks campaigning and called time on his re-election hopes, confirming he will pull out of the presidential race.

Polls showed the 81 year old was lagging well behind, facing scrutiny on his health and ability to defeat Donald Trump in November. Declaring it’s in the “best interests” of the country to step aside. With Republicans calling for Biden to leave the White House immediately.

Biden has since endorsed his Vice President Kamala Harris who remains favourite to step in to the race, throwing his full support behind her in a tweet. This poses a completely different threat to Donald Trump, who has spent his campaign so far attacking the frail Biden in a ‘strong vs weak’ strategy, he now faces a black & Asian American 59-year-old woman, offering a fresh cultural approach. Worth noting that no woman has ever held the oval office in its 248 yr history.

Kamala Harris did make an attempt during the 2020 bid for Democrat nomination and failed with a poor campaign and woeful interviews, Trump will do his best to tie Harris to the current administration and paint her as the “radical left”. George Soros and other Wall Street Democrats have thrown their support behind Harris to put up a fight against the Republicans, with Hilary Clinton also endorsing her, however Barrack Obama remains silent on who he is backing.

Market delivered a subdued reaction so far as the writing appeared to be on the wall for Biden since his nightmarish debate vs Trump, with the Dollar little changed. However, in a surprise turn China decided to cut its benchmark lending rates overnight from 1.8% to 1.7% as it attempts to promote growth in the world’s second largest economy. China has faced a torrid year to date, with a prolonged property crisis alongside high debt, weak consumer and business sentiment.

Market data remains thin on the ground this week with the main highlight coming from the US with GDP release on Thursday, we do have a European Banks report on Wednesday where second quarter earnings will be released, we also have G20 ministers meeting in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil starting today.

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