Evening Briefing: Americas

Bitcoin just notched another win of sorts. BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager, says the cryptocurrency does have a place in multi-asset portfolios—to a point, anyway. According to a BlackRock Investment Institute paper released Thursday, giving Bitcoin a 1% to 2% weighting would produce a similar share of profile risk as the Magnificent Seven tech stocks in a standard 60/40 portfolio. That’s a “reasonable range,” BlackRock proclaimed, as anything beyond 2% would sharply increase crypto’s share of overall portfolio risk. Bitcoin has been on a high since the election of Donald Trump—and his subsequent nomination of crypto fan Paul Atkins to be chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission—soaring above $100,000. Although BlackRock’s memo provides a potential blueprint for investors “who are tolerant of Bitcoin’s risk,” they nevertheless should remain wary of scams amid the digital currency’s ongoing boom. Scammers have done exceedingly well for themselves in the past year (about $5.6 billion was lost to crypto fraud in the US last year, according to the FBI), in part because so many investors think crypto is a way to get rich quick—which of course makes them easy marks. —Jordan Parker Erb

What You Need to Know Today

The European Central Bank lowered rates for a third consecutive meeting as inflation on the continent nears 2% while the economy struggles. The ECB’s statement has traders betting on more back-to-back cuts next year, too. And it wasn’t the only central bank to cut rates: The Swiss National Bank made a surprise half-point reduction to 0.5%. Following suit, Danish policymakers in Copenhagen also reduced borrowing costs. Thursday’s cuts come against the backdrop of France and Germany’s intensifying governmental disarray, as well as the run-up to Trump’s second stint in the White House.

About France. President Emmanuel Macron is expected to name a new prime minister imminently, one who will have the unenviable task of attempting to form a government while restarting the budget process. The political upheaval triggered by the far-right National Rally party has exacerbated challenges for the economy, where business sentiment has taken a hit and policymakers are struggling to get a grip on inflation.

Google unveiled a mixed-reality headset with Samsung. In a bid to challenge devices from Apple and Meta, the two companies announced a version of Google’s Android software for XR, or extended reality. They also showed off a Samsung-built headset code-named Project Moohan, taken from the Korean word for “infinite.” The tech giants look to jump-start a market that’s been slow to take off—Apple’s $3,499 Vision Pro headset remains a niche product, and Meta has had more success with smart glasses and cheaper VR headsets than higher-end mixed-reality devices.

Photographer: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images

US President Joe Biden's plan to block Nippon’s $14.1 billion acquisition of US Steel later this month is a terrible idea, Bloomberg’s Editorial Board writes. The deal’s opponents—who include Trump and the United Steelworkers union—haven’t laid out a convincing case against selling off US Steel. If anything, the board writes, approving the deal would make the US stronger: The merged company would form the world’s third-largest steelmaker, better able to take on China’s dominant producers.

Russia is nearing an agreement with Syria’s new leadership to keep two vital military bases in the country. The fall of President Bashar al-Assad was a personal defeat for Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin: The bases were part of his recent attempts to project power and reclaim some of the Soviet Union’s Cold War-era influence. Losing the leases posed a potentially serious strategic setback for Russia’s military—with its naval base there its only hub on the Mediterranean Sea, and its airfield crucial to supply the operations of its military and mercenary groups in Africa.

China signaled more public borrowing and spending in 2025, with a shift of policy focus toward consumption. It’s an effort to repair what Beijing sees as the economy’s weak link as a potential escalation of the ongoing trade war with US looms, threatening exports. Led by Xi Jinping, top officials vowed to raise the fiscal deficit target next year. For only the second time in at least a decade, they made “lifting consumption vigorously” and stimulating overall domestic demand their top priority.