Evening Briefing: Americas

President Joe Biden is said to be planning to formally block the $14.1 billion sale of United States Steel to Nippon Steel on national security grounds. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which has been reviewing the proposed takeover for much of this year, is set to send the matter back to the White House this month. Biden—born in US Steel’s home state of Pennsylvania—has long signaled opposition to the sale, and has said the company would remain domestically owned. A federal judge on Tuesday also blew up another huge deal—while granting a parting gift to Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan in the process. The Biden administration argued that Kroger’s $24.6 billion acquisition of Albertsons would lessen competition for US grocery shoppers, leading to higher prices amid residual inflation that was the central issue of the 2024 election campaign. Khan had come under harsh criticism from the right and business groups for her stepped-up antitrust enforcement. FTC spokesperson Douglas Farrar proclaimed that the agency’s victory “protects competition in the grocery market, which will prevent prices from rising even more.” —David E. Rovella

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With every deal that’s shot down, perhaps another rises in its place. Sycamore Partners, for example, is said to be in talks to acquire struggling drugstore chain Walgreens Boots Alliance. The New York-based private equity firm has been having ongoing discussions about a deal to take Walgreens private. The stock jumped as much as 28% on the news, its biggest single-day gain since at least 1980. Walgreens shares had lost two-thirds of their value over the course of the year through Monday. That’s the worst performance of any stock in the S&P 500. Here’s your markets wrap.

In a stunning retreat, General Motors’ Cruise self-driving car unit will exit the robotaxi business, ending a tumultuous endeavor that had already proven costly and full of reputational pitfalls. GM said it will no longer fund robotaxi development work “given the considerable time and resources that would be needed to scale the business, along with an increasingly competitive robotaxi market.” Cruise had emerged intact after an earlier shakeout among autonomous-driving companies and was resuming operations after an incident last year in which one of its cars dragged and injured a pedestrian. To drop the division now may have significant implications for GM Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra.

Hedge funds are searching for cash high and low—low, especially, as they head downmarket for their next pot of money from “mini-millionaires.” The trend to attract doctors, lawyers, business owners—anyone with seven- or eight-figure fortune—has been gaining velocity as the usual clientele of big institutions and the ultra-wealthy become more cautious. All across Wall Street, velvet ropes are coming down. From private-equity players to real estate operators to hot new private-credit funds, nearly everyone is trying to woo the rich-but-not-crazy-rich with promises of an entree to exclusive investments. Others are even talking up the 401(k) crowd—which some on Wall Street refer to as “dumb money.”

Mexico’s Lower House of Congress approved the general text of one of the most aggressive labor reform bills in the world, one which would give additional rights and benefits to gig workers employed under digital apps like Uber and Didi. The reform, proposed by President Claudia Sheinbaum, passed on Tuesday with 462 votes in favor, none against and no abstentions. It now goes to the Senate where the ruling party also has a large majority. The law would establish that drivers or couriers who earn Mexico City’s minimum monthly wage working for the app companies, 7,468 pesos (around US$370), must be considered employees and receive all legal benefits, “regardless of the time actually worked.”

Claudia Sheinbaum Photographer: Stephania Corpi/Bloomberg

Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is awake and conscious after undergoing emergency brain surgery. Lula will stay in the intensive care unit of a Sao Paulo hospital for 48 hours as a precaution, and should be able to return to Brasilia early next week, Doctor Roberto Kalil said Tuesday. The 79-year-old president felt headaches Monday and a brain scan showed an intracranial hemorrhage resulting from an accident he had suffered at home in October. He was immediately flown to Sao Paulo for surgery, which went on without complications, according to his medical team. “He’s now stable, talking normally and eating,” Kalil said at the Sirio-Libanes hospital where Lula is being treated. “He had no brain injury.”

Maybe it’s the thought that counts. This week’s promise of bold economic support from the Chinese Politburo may have given local stocks a boost, but it barely registered elsewhere, pointing to how a continuing struggle to right the ship is diluting China’s sway over the global economy. The MSCI Asia Pacific regional benchmark was little changed in the first trading session after the announcement and stocks fell in Australia, which counts China as a key trading partner. The landscape has changed since 2015, when global equities, oil and metals rose due to Beijing’s interest rate cuts, liquidity injections and stock purchases. The US trade war on China led to rerouted trade flows, and the nation’s economy has sputtered as Xi Jinping shifts demand away from the debt-fueled property market.

Hundreds of firefighters are racing to control a fast-moving Southern California wildfire that’s threatening the wealthy town of Malibu and has forced the evacuation of thousands of residents. The Franklin fire has swelled to more than 2,700 acres and remained completely out of control as of Tuesday afternoon. The blaze has grown rapidly since it was sparked late Monday, whipped by strong, dry winds with gusts expected to reach 80 miles (129 kilometers) per hour. The National Weather Service warned of a “particularly dangerous situation” today and that the windy conditions will pose a significant threat through Wednesday.