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The Eurozone risks another debt crisis if the bloc cannot boost growth, lower public debt and fix “policy uncertainty”, the European Central Bank has warned.

In its annual Financial Stability Review, published on Wednesday, the ECB sounded the alarm over a potential return of “market concerns over sovereign debt sustainability”.

It pointed to “elevated debt levels and high budget deficits” as well as tepid growth and uncertainties caused by recent “election outcomes at the European and national levels, notably in France”.

Spreads between French and German 10-year government bonds — a gauge of investors’ concerns — hit 0.78 percentage points this month, close to the 12-year high reached in the run-up to this summer’s parliamentary election.

“Headwinds to economic growth from factors like weak productivity make elevated debt levels and budget deficits more likely to reignite debt sustainability concerns,” the ECB warned on Wednesday.

However Italian spreads against German debt — an indicator of investor worries across the bloc — are at much tighter levels than they were during the Eurozone crisis.

During that crisis, which began more than a decade ago, Greece narrowly avoided a default as concerns about its financial stability fuelled market unrest over the common currency. This only subsided after then-ECB president Mario Draghi pledged to do “whatever it takes” to prevent a collapse of the currency area.

By its nature, the ECB’s Financial Stability Review focuses on risks to the region but its warnings about fiscal risks are more outspoken than in previous editions.

The ECB said sovereign credit risk premiums could be pushed higher by macro-financial shocks, pointing to “weak” fundamentals in several member states and maturing sovereign debt being “rolled over” at higher interest rates.

It added the combination of low growth and high government debt in the 20-country currency bloc could make it more difficult for governments to pay for higher defence needs and investments to fight climate change.

In an indication of the region’s weak growth prospects, the European Commission last week downgraded its 2025 growth forecast for the Eurozone to 1.3 per cent and warned the region is set to fall further behind the US.

The ECB is also concerned that stock and bond markets are exposed to rising risks of “sharp adjustments”, pointing to “high valuations and risk concentration” that had already resulted in “several pronounced but shortlived spikes in volatility”.

It added that “recent market corrections have not dissipated concerns over the overvaluation of equity markets or the potential for an AI-related asset price bubble.”

In a potential economic slump, bank balance sheets could also take a hit as Eurozone consumers and companies are already struggling with higher rates, the ECB said.

The threat of higher losses on commercial real estate “could be significant for individual banks and investment funds”, it added.

In the coming days, the United States is expected to take its final voyage, on its way to be buried at sea.

It’s not the country nearing its end, but a ship that bears its name. The SS United States is a mid-20th century ocean liner that set the speed record for crossing the Atlantic. Now tied up at a Philadelphia pier, its paint peeling and faded after decades of inactivity, it’s bound for an ending that is, in reality, a new phase of its life: serving as an artificial reef that attracts divers and marine life in the waters off Florida.

It’s an intricate job to tow a 990-foot ship that no longer has its own working engines. The ship’s planned departure from Philadelphia last week was delayed by the weather, and a new date hasn’t been set. But the United States must go. The pier operator wants its dock space back, and its sale has been completed.

Before departure, a team from NPR climbed aboard what is, in effect, a ghost ship — a relic from the era of great liners that connected North America with Europe. Some of the most famous of these ships are those that sank, like the Andrea Doria, the Lusitania and the Titanic. The builders of the United States learned from others’ mistakes, and it will not go down until it’s scuttled by design.

“If this ship had hit the Titanic’s iceberg, there is no way she would have sunk,” said Susan Gibbs, whose grandfather designed the United States and who has struggled for two decades to preserve it. She told the history of the ship while standing on the foredeck on a sunny afternoon.

“It was a top secret Cold War weapon,” she said. “Its keel was laid right as the Soviet Union tested the atomic bomb.”

The U.S. Navy paid most of the bills because the passenger ship had a military purpose. It could easily be converted to carry thousands of U.S. troops to a war zone, which was a function served by the British liners Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth during World War II.

Gibbs’ grandfather, William Francis Gibbs, was a Philadelphia native who was fascinated by ships as a child and grew up to design them even though he had no formal training. His achievement during World War II was building so-called Liberty Ships, cargo vessels that carried food and weapons to Europe; they had to be designed and built in such a way that they could be completed by the thousands, more rapidly than German submarines could sink them.

After the war, Gibbs persuaded the government to help him complete his dream: the fastest and safest liner afloat. Its advanced engines and propellers allowed it to sail at 44 land miles per hour — so fast that many warships and submarines of the era would have trouble catching it. (The Queen Mary’s top speed was around 37, and most ships were far slower.)

Watertight compartments made the ship extremely hard to sink; and Gibbs obsessively removed the flammable wood that ordinarily would have formed much of the ship’s interior decor. He insisted on lightweight aluminum — even trying to persuade the piano maker Theodore Steinway to produce an aluminum grand piano.

“Steinway thought that might affect the tonal quality of the instrument, so he refused,” Gibbs said. He finally persuaded the shipbuilder to accept a mahogany piano by dousing the instrument with gasoline and setting it alight; the fuel burned off the hardwood without affecting it.

The ship never served in wartime, instead spending the years from 1952 to 1969 in passenger service for the United States Lines. Musicians including Duke Ellington performed at the mahogany piano in the ballroom. Several presidents were among the passengers; Margaret Truman, a president’s daughter, came along for the record-breaking maiden voyage.

The ship was retired in 1969 as jet travel took over. In more recent years, Susan Gibbs tried to have it repurposed as a floating hotel, which never quite worked.

At last, Okaloosa County, Fla., proposed converting it into the world’s largest artificial reef.

“I’ve shed a few tears.” Susan Gibbs told me. But she added, “this is her next chapter and I am coming to terms with it. And I think it will offer its own sense of dignity and make me even more determined to continue to tell her story.”

I noted that she referred to the ship as “her,” which is the traditional way that ships are discussed. Did the United States have a personality in her mind?

“Yes,” Gibbs said. “I see this ship as a feminist icon. She’s tough. She’s tough and strong and resilient and holds so much.”

Assuming that the ship is successfully towed to Florida’s Gulf Coast, the faded hull will be passed over to engineers, who plan to use explosives to blow holes in the bottom and conduct a controlled sinking in water that is shallow enough for divers to explore it.

Before the sinking, its faded red, white and blue funnels are to be removed and brought to land. They are to be centerpieces of a marine museum, relics of an earlier phase of global travel.

The foredeck of the SS United States, completed in 1951.

Stephen Mallon for NPR

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The ship’s hull, designed to withstand extreme stress, remains watertight despite decades without maintenance.

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The United States’ mid-20th century modern interiors were long ago stripped to dispose of asbestos, though the spaces still suggest their past grandeur.

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Susan Gibbs, whose grandfather designed the United States, fought for years to save it.

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One of the portholes on the United States.

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The ship’s design blended traditional elements like this anchor with high-speed engines, durability and immense size; it is 990 feet long.

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The pressure to vacate this pier finally forced a sale that will see the United States sunk as an artificial reef off the Florida coast.

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Only a few bits of the United States’ mid-20th-century modern decor remain.

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Diagrams of the ship’s decks highlight some of its luxury features, including a first-run movie theater, visible on the top chart, center left.

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The audio version of this piece was edited by HJ Mai and produced by Kaity Kline and Julie Depenbrock. The digital version was adapted by Majd Al-Waheidi.

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Private equity billionaire Marc Rowan has emerged as a top contender to be Donald Trump’s Treasury secretary and will meet the president-elect on Wednesday to make his pitch for the job, according to several people familiar with the matter.

The Apollo Global Management chief had prepared extensively for the interview, said two people familiar with the matter. He has flown back from Hong Kong to meet Trump in Florida.

Rowan has the support of several Trump confidants and Wall Street donors, who cited his deep experience in financial markets. “Marc is brilliant, though, very independent,” said one of his Wall Street backers.

The 62-year-old private capital boss faces stiff competition for the role, however, with hedge fund investor Scott Bessent still a leading contender. Kevin Warsh, a former Federal Reserve governor advising the transition team on policy, has also been floated for a position and remains a candidate to be the next Treasury secretary.

Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty is also in the mix and on Tuesday travelled with Trump to a SpaceX rocket launch in Texas hosted by Elon Musk.

The prediction site Polymarket had Warsh as outright favourite on Tuesday, with Bessent second favourite followed by Rowan and Hagerty.

Rowan’s candidacy was boosted after Trump tapped billionaire investor Howard Lutnick to lead the commerce department earlier on Tuesday, which would put the boss of investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald in charge of imposing far-reaching tariffs on imports.

The co-chair of Trump’s transition team lost traction in the race for the Treasury post after he and his allies became enmeshed in a bitter battle with Bessent’s camp over the job.

Bessent is also in contention to become chair of the new administration’s National Economic Council if his bid to be Treasury secretary falls through.

Rowan’s emergence as a main contender for the top economic post in the new administration comes after days of speculation about Trump’s plans. Treasury secretary is the last big cabinet position left to fill, after the president-elect raced through a number of nominations after winning the election earlier this month.

During Trump’s first administration, Rowan played a role in recommending to the president’s administration some emergency measures to tame financial markets in the early stages of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Rowan’s Apollo holds more than $700bn of assets under management. Any move into government would be complex for the Wall Street executive and the firm, although Apollo insiders say it has a deep bench of leadership to draw from. Apollo declined to comment.

Trump’s pick for Treasury secretary will need to be confirmed by the US Senate next year.