2026-05-01
Court guts Voting Rights Act. Pentagon arms itself with AI. Markets yawn.
Good afternoon. The Supreme Court handed voting rights advocates a fresh loss. The Pentagon, meanwhile, signed up most of Silicon Valley. Markets closed the week unmoved.
Markets closed in 2 hours.
Lunch Brief
The Supreme Court struck down another major Voting Rights Act provision. Nine states already have their own version; eleven more, including several in the South, have introduced bills to protect voters without federal coverage.
The former FBI director faces re-indictment under Trump's administration. The commentary framing it as routine retaliation reflects an ongoing debate over prosecutorial independence.
Defense Department struck classified-setting agreements with OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, xAI, and Reflection AI. Anthropic was notably excluded from the arrangement.
The Golden State Valkyries retained the top women's sports team valuation for the second consecutive year, per Sportico.
New state law effective October prohibits grocery stores and third-party delivery services from using consumer data to increase prices dynamically.
The Institute for Supply Management's gauge of prices paid for inputs climbed to 84.6—a four-year peak—for the fourth consecutive month.
Jorge Perez, founder of Related Group and architect of Miami's real estate ascent, spoke with Bloomberg on the city's unprecedented growth and capital influx.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, author of Power On newsletter, discusses whether OpenAI will ever release a smartphone or smartphone-like device to market.
"Almost respectable. Use it cautiously."
"Below the radar. Statistically rare; enjoy it."
Court weakened voting law. Pentagon bought AI. News cycle grinding.
Back at 6:00 PM ET with the night owl brief.