Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Good news for Trump

In a potential victory of sorts for Donald Trump, the US Supreme Court suggested it might drag out his claim of immunity from prosecution, likely dooming any chance of a pre-November trial on charges he sought to subvert the 2020 election. Hearing arguments Thursday in Washington, the justices did express skepticism toward the ex-president’s sweeping claim of immunity over his effort to prevent Joe Biden from taking office. But Chief Justice John Roberts said he disagreed with part of an appeals court opinion letting the trial go forward, and he discussed returning the case to the lower courts for a closer look at the allegations. “The Court of Appeals did not get into a focused consideration of what acts we’re talking about or what documents we’re talking about,” Roberts said. The 2024 election went unmentioned over the course of the two-hour 40-minute argument before the court, which is controlled by a Republican-appointed supermajority. But Trump-appointee Amy Coney Barrett did at one point acknowledge that Special Counsel Jack Smith “has expressed some concern for speed and wanting to move forward.” —David E. Rovella

The Jan. 6 case is just one of four prosecutions the Republican candidate faces. In Trump’s ongoing trial in Manhattan, former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker said he spoke to Trump during the 2016 campaign before agreeing to buy and bury a former Playboy model’s story about an extramarital affair. Pecker testified Thursday that he agreed to pay $150,000 to Karen McDougal for her story, but not publish it. The former CEO of American Media Inc. also talked about his dealings with adult film star Stormy Daniels, who made similar claims about Trump. The testimony bolsters allegations by Manhattan prosecutors that Trump participated in a scheme to falsify business records to cover up payments of $130,000 to Daniels to buy her silence—and thus keep her story out of the public eye in the run up to the 2016 election.

US economic growth slid to an almost two-year low last quarter while inflation rose, interrupting a run of strong demand and muted price pressures. Gross domestic product increased at a 1.6% annualized rate, below all economists’ forecasts, the government’s initial estimate showed. Federal Reserve policymakers—who were already expected to hold interest rates at a two-decade high when they meet next week—may face renewed pressure to further delay any cuts and even to consider whether borrowing costs are high enough. 

Real estate brokerage stocks tumbled Thursday on those waning expectations for rate cuts, and as a disappointing earnings release raised concern about the sector’s outlook. Shares of Anywhere Real Estate sank 7%, and are now down 38% this year, after the real estate services company reported first-quarter results that were weaker than consensus estimates. Industry peers including Opendoor Technologies and Redfin dropped as well.

A laid-off YouTube employee is down to his last paycheck. A former startup worker has to borrow money from his family to pay his mortgage. A veteran financial consultant can barely land an interview. They’re all victims of stalled white-collar hiring across much of the US. Industries such as finance, technology and media, and professional services like law and accounting, have turned into a pocket of weakness in an otherwise-robust labor market.

Four months into office, Argentine President Javier Milei has pulled off a critical feat in a country long ravaged by runaway inflation: He stabilized the currency. The peso has not only stopped plunging day after day, but in one key foreign-exchange market it’s actually rallying sharply. 

Support among US swing-state voters for American aid to Israel has plunged since the war in the Gaza Strip began, according to the latest Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll. Fifty-one percent of registered voters in the seven states that will decide the 2024 presidential election said they either strongly or somewhat support aid to Israel, the poll found. That’s down 10 percentage points from November.

Oracle is moving its headquarters out of the city. Tesla is pulling back after a rapid expansion. Almost a quarter of commercial office space is vacant, and nowhere in the country have residential real estate prices fallen further from their pandemic peak. Austin, Texas, became a Covid-era haven that lured Elon Musk and a host of California refugees with low taxes and sunny weather. But lately that’s changed: On Tuesday, Larry Ellison announced his software company will shift its headquarters from the Texas capital to Nashville, Tennessee. And there’s more bad news.

Austin is falling out of favor Photographer: Sergio Flores/Bloomberg

• Anglo American’s stumbles made it prey for mining’s biggest predator.
• Macron says Europe can no longer rely on the US for its security.
• Google’s parent beats revenue estimates buoyed by cloud unit growth.
• Microsoft had similar good news, also thanks to its AI offerings.
• Not so for Intel, though. The chip giant slid on a lackluster forecast.
• Zimbabwe’s gold-backed ZiG weakens for the first time since debut.
• Why Chipotle told its employees to stop eating the chicken.

For Wall Street types already looking toward summer, the Hamptons are going to be as busy as ever. Open houses for new listings have been packed and the rental market is robust. As Memorial Day looms, visitors are even plotting their dining and nightlife reservations in eastern Long Island’s monied hamlets. If you are one of them, or even if you aren’t, here are nine great places to go when you do head out East.

Look out for the raclette cheeseburger at Village Bistro. Source: Village Bistro

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