Two weeks after the U.S. election, hundreds of allies gathered at the White House to soothe Joe Biden in defeat. Tracking the closed-door bash for clues was a group rarely interested in the routine preening of Washington: arbitrage traders.
The traders, who buy and sell the stock of companies in the middle of mergers and acquisitions, and investors were hanging on every event for a clue to the fate of the sale of U.S. Steel, a hallowed but humbled American giant, to Japan-based Nippon Steel. And the deal’s key opponent, steelworkers union chief David McCall, was at the party. Would McCall meet Biden? Did the party offer an elaborate cover?
One question has swirled among investors and unions, from local mayors to the White House, since Nippon Steel announced its plans in December 2023: whether anyone could persuade Biden to back the sale, or whether McCall would succeed in having it killed.
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