Your Saturday Briefing: Trump’s Comeback Plan, Wall Street Whistles Away

Tony Czuczka
·3 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- Hello from Washington, where Donald Trump is returning to the capital region for only the second time since leaving office.

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When he’s holed up at his Mar-a-Lago resort, the former president spends time golfing, plotting his political comeback — and workshopping nicknames for his Republican rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. As Nancy Cook reports, the latest favorite seems to be “Ron DeSactimonious.”

Trump will be pushing back on Saturday against fatigue about his 2024 candidacy in a speech at CPAC, a “Star Trek convention” for ultraconservatives. Meanwhile, DeSantis heads to California to promote a not-exactly-tell-all memoir ahead of his expected entry into the race. Also at CPAC is former President Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump admirer whose supporters stormed Brazil’s capital in January.

On Wall Street, a penchant for “whistling past the graveyard” carried the S&P 500 to its best week since late January, even as rising bond rates blared alarms. You could argue that signs of strain are increasing: A Blackstone security backed by a portfolio of commercial properties in Finland show how remote work, Russian’s invasion of Ukraine and higher interest rates conspire to heighten risk. The recent defaults by office landlords may be just the beginning. Car debt is piling up as more Americans owe lenders more than their vehicles are worth.

If you’re thinking about building wealth with good old CDs now that interest rates have revived, don’t bother, Alexis Leondis writes in Bloomberg Opinion. There are better low-risk options, she says.

While data show strong US jobs and still resilient consumers, Amazon tapped the brakes on its second headquarters campus in Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, after embarking on its deepest job cuts yet. The 350-foot tall Helix, a striking, spiral-shaped conference center and indoor garden, will have to wait. And Meta Platforms cut the price of some virtual-reality headsets.

It’s not an easy environment for a Federal Reserve, whose obstacles include millions of home mortgages locked in at pandemic lows. San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly gives her latest take on inflation at a Princeton University event on Saturday and Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s congressional testimony will be the focus on Tuesday and Wednesday.

With the war in Ukraine showing few signs of abating, Katrina Manson reports in Bloomberg Businessweek how Russia’s invasion revealed that the world relies on thousands of satellite systems to ensure communications on the ground — and how the industry still hasn’t caught up to what today’s hackers can do.

On the pleasant side, you’ve probably heard of Balvenie (if you like whisky), but if you’re in the market for their 60-year single malt, be quick — and be prepared to fork over $145,000. Read about the occasion and the 30-year-old female malt master-to-be who has “lots of experiments in the warehouse” here.

Final thought: how do a famed rapper and founding member of the Fugees, a fugitive and the FBI end up in the same story? Listen to this Big Take podcast and wrap your head around the intrigue, which also includes the Chinese government, two US administrations and A-list Hollywood celebrities. It’s really quite the tale.

Have a good day, and we’ll be back tomorrow for a look at the coming week.

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