Crypto News: Crypto crumble

Good morning. Markets kick off December on the back foot. US consumers don't seem that fazed. And Disney scores big over the weekend with Zootopia 2. Listen to the day's top stories.

— Marc Perrier

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Not the best way to kick off the month. Global stocks and bonds started December on the back foot as a renewed selloff in cryptocurrencies weighed on sentiment. Bitcoin plunged and traders braced for more declines. On a more positive note, the data center that supports CME Group said it's bolstered its backup cooling capacity after overheating last Friday sparked a 10-hour outage that roiled markets.

White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg

Donald Trump said he's decided who will be the next Federal Reserve chair after making clear he expects his nominee to deliver interest-rate cuts. "I know who I am going to pick, yeah," Trump told reporters, without naming his choice. Trump's chief economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, is seen as the most likely to succeed current Fed chief Jerome Powell, but declined yesterday on CBS to address whether he considers himself the frontrunner.

Keep on shopping. Black Friday sales rose from a year earlier, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse—a sign that US consumers are continuing to spend despite persistent economic concerns. Retailers catering to teens and 20-somethings were standouts that drew heavy traffic. Let's see if Cyber Monday can keep up the trend.

US and Ukrainian negotiators said they had productive discussions about a framework for a peace deal, but there was still no breakthrough despite Trump's push for a truce with Russia. Sunday's talks came after Russia unleashed an air barrage on Ukraine's capital on Friday night. Attention now turns to US special envoy Steve Witkoff's expected meeting with Vladimir Putin in Moscow tomorrow.

Trump downplayed his social media post saying Venezuelan airspace should be considered closed. His post Saturday, addressed to airlines and "Drug Dealers," added to jitters in the region about possible US strikes. The president confirmed he recently spoke with his counterpart Nicolas Maduro, but declined to say how it went.

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Deep Dive: Rental Worries

Photographer: David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe/Getty Images

Boston landlords are willing to do anything as the rental market softens.

It's a heel turn for a city that has seen cutthroat competition among renters for years. But now, deep cuts to research funding, a cooling biotech market and the loss of residents to other states are crimping tenant demand.
Landlords are doing more than lowering rents—many who once refused tenants with pets or undergraduates are now changing their tune.
It's not just stress over affordability and job security. Immigration raids and student visa restrictions are also taking a toll. New international student enrollment is down 17% nationally this fall.
That's not all—a ffordability concerns in wider Massachusetts that are driving calls for the strictest statewide rent control policy in the US.

The Big Take

Illustration by Nolan Pelletier

A wall of money worth more than a quarter trillion dollars is distorting the face of the corporate bond market, driven by "mom and pop" investors buying baskets of bonds as a way to put their money to work.

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How the Doodle Became a $1 Billion Dog

Opinion

Photographer: Matthias Balk/picture alliance/Getty Images

ChatGPT is three but don't crack the bubbly just yet, John Authers writes. Generative AI hasn't yet altered the global order beyond showering capital on a few very large US companies.

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Andrea Felsted

Cartier Is Gen Z's Rolex, Thanks to Taylor Swift

Paul J. Davies

Private Credit 'Hysteria' Will Get Very Real Next Year

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Before You Go

Source: Walt Disney Co.

Walt Disney's Zootopia 2 dominated the Thanksgiving weekend box office, raking in $156 million in the US and Canada. The film—about a rabbit and a fox who team up as police partners—achieved the highest global opening for any animated picture in Disney's history with a haul of $556 million worldwide.

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