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The two US presidential candidates have clashed over jobs, race and the Iraq War in a feisty TV debate.
Republican Donald Trump has said jobs are “fleeing the country” and blamed poor trade deals.
His opponent Democrat Hillary Clinton pledged to increase investment and promised to create 10 million jobs.
The duel in New York could be the most watched debate in television history, with 100 million viewers, and polls suggest a tight race.
“We are in a big, fat, ugly bubble,” Mr Trump said, describing the state of the US economy, blaming Mrs Clinton as “all talk, no action”.
He was put on the defensive by moderator Lester Holt for not revealing his tax returns.
But the hotel developer promised he would if his opponent released 33,000 emails that were deleted during an investigation into her private email set-up.
Mrs Clinton, the former secretary of state, attacked him for praising Russian President Vladimir Putin, and suggesting he “find” her emails.
“I was so shocked when Donald publicly invited Putin to hack into Americans. That is just unacceptable… Donald is unfit to be commander-in-chief.”
Other debate highlights:
“You’ve been fighting ISIS your entire adult life,” Mr Trump mocked Mrs Clinton
He said she did not have the temperament to be president
She said there were no excuses for the “mistake” of using a private email server
African Americans are living “in hell” in the US, he said, because life is so dangerous
In response to the police shootings of black men, Mr Trump said bringing back law and order is the answer
Mrs Clinton said she would introduce criminal justice reform because “unfortunately, race often determines too much”
One key exchange was over Mr Trump’s long-held belief that President Barack Obama was born outside the US, a position he finally reversed two weeks ago.
“He has a long record of engaging in racist behaviour,” she said, adding that it was a “very hurtful” lie that annoyed and bothered the first African American president.
When asked by Mr Holt to explain his change in stance, he said he wanted to concentrate on bigger, more important issues.
In the past week, both candidates have focused on the response to fatal police shootings of African-American men in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Charlotte, North Carolina, as well as the ensuing protests.
The debate was the first of three between the two candidates, and the American voters go to the polls on 8 November.
