The Washington Post - 05.03.2020

THURSDAy, MARCH 5 , 2020. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ rE A

Economy & Business

SOCIAL MEDIA

Twitter tests posts

that will disappear

Twitter is testing a way for
users to post photos and videos
that disappear after 24 hours —
similar to products offered on
rival social networks.
The company calls these
disappearing posts fleets —
short for fleeting tweets — and
wants the tool to ease the

pressure of online sharing.

Similar to tweets, fleets are text-

first, but videos, GIFs and photos

can be added.

— Bloomberg News

CORPORATIONS

ViacomCBS wants

to sell book business

Simon & Schuster, the

publisher of such authors as

Stephen King and Bob

Woodward, is up for sale.

ViacomCBS is looking to sell

its book publishing business as it

tries to raise cash to pay down

debt and please shareholders

with dividends and stock

buybacks.

T he company h as used the

publisher’s books to create

movies and television shows. But

the business made up just

3 percent of the company’s

revenue last year.

— Associated Press

ALSO IN BUSINESS

Toyota is recalling 3.2 million

vehicles worldwide, more than

half of which are in the United

States, to fix faulty fuel pumps.

The move affects certain Lexus

and To yota cars and trucks for

the 2013-2019 model years, a

spokesman said. That includes

about 1.8 million vehicles sold in

the United States and 158,262 in

Canada, To yota said. To yota

cited potentially defective fuel

pumps that may stop operating

and cause engine stalls that

“increase the risk of a crash.”

America’s service industries in

February enjoyed the fastest

growth in a year as orders

surged, showing momentum just

as coronavirus concerns started

to become more widespread. The

Institute for Supply

Management’s non-

manufacturing index rose 1.

points to 57.3, according to data

Wednesday. Figures above 50

show expansion.

General Motors rolled out plans

for 13 new electric vehicles

during the next five years. GM

touted an exclusive new battery

technology that could propel

some of the vehicles as far as 400

miles on a single charge.

Executives said the vehicles

would be built using modular

chassis and drive systems for

manufacturing simplicity.

— From news reports

DIGEST

BY SHAYNA JACOBS

new york — President Trump
wants the benefit of asserting
constitutional immunity when
he is sued personally even as he
files lawsuits against others, un-
dermining his defense in the
defamation case brought by a
journalist who accused him of
raping her years ago, the wom-
an’s attorneys argued in court
Wednesday.
Tr ump’s personal attorneys
asked the judge overseeing
E. Jean Carroll’s c ivil case to delay
the proceedings, noting that a

state appellate court here in Man-

hattan imposed a stay in another

defamation lawsuit brought by

former “A pprentice” contestant

Summer Zervos, who in 2016

accused Trump of sexually as-

saulting her several years before.

Trump has denied both wom-

en’s allegations.

The stay in Zervos’s case halts

those proceedings until the

state’s highest court can rule on

the presidential immunity ques-

tion Trump has raised, under the

theory that a sitting president

cannot face civil or criminal

charges in state courts.

Carroll’s legal team has called

attention to a lawsuit Trump’s

campaign brought against the

New York Times, claiming libel in

an opinion piece about the presi-

dent’s dealings with Russia. The

suit was filed Feb. 26, the day

before Trump attorneys first

asked the court in writing to

postpone Carroll’s case. Trump’s

campaign has since sued The

Washington Post over two opin-

ion articles discussing Russia’s

election interference.

Carroll attorney Roberta Ka-

plan told Justice Verna Saunders

that Trump cannot have it both

ways — arguing immunity when

he is defending a case and then

suing his critics in the media who

aim to hold him accountable.

“That kind of cherry-picking,

your honor, is an intolerable

abuse of the process,” Kaplan

said. “... It b elies any contention,

any reasonable explanation, that

there could be some sort of undue

burden on Donald Trump by hav-

ing to defend this action.”

Carroll’s account of being

raped more than two decades a go

was published in her 2019 book,

“What Do We Need Men For?: A

Modest Proposal.” In the memoir,

she alleges Trump assaulted her

in the dressing room of a Berg-

dorf Goodman department store

on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue.

Carroll sued Trump in October,

accusing him of defamation after

Trump called her a liar. The

lawsuit, filed in New Yo rk State

Supreme Court, says that “Trump

lashed out with a series of false

and defamatory statements” and

that he “denied the rape.”

“But there was more: He also

denied ever having met Carroll o r

even knowing who she was,” Car-

roll’s civil complaint says. Car-

roll’s legal team says she was

harmed personally and profes-

sionally by the president’s public

statements.

Trump attorney Christine

Montenegro argued that the

president would “suffer irrepara-

ble harm” should the Carroll case

go forward “without the benefit

of meaningful appellate review.”

She also argued that it was

Trump’s p olitical campaign — n ot

Trump himself — that has sued

the media.

Kaplan said it was “obviously

absurd” t hat Trump did not know

his campaign was going to begin

a legal battle with the New York

Times.

Kaplan proposed a compro-

mise to pausing the case, offering

to hold off on seeking a DNA

sample from Trump or from tak-

ing his deposition w hile the docu-

ment-sharing process known as

discovery gets underway. Most of

the documents would be coming

from Carroll’s side, she said.

Carroll hopes to search for

DNA on the dress she said she

was wearing when she was at-

tacked. Her attorney said the

garment is now in safekeeping

for use if testing goes forward.

Saunders did not rule on the

petition by Trump’s team and did

not say when she expected to

have a decision. Trump’s attorney

said the appeals court’s decision

in the Zervos case could come

within months, while Kaplan

countered that the panel may not

even hear arguments until later

this year.

“I’m filing this lawsuit not just

for myself but for every woman in

America who has been grabbed,

groped, harassed, sexually as-

saulted and has spoken up and

still has been disgraced, shamed

or fired, which happened in my

case,” Carroll told reporters after

the proceeding.

Carroll has said previously that

Elle magazine dropped her as a

columnist after Trump chal-

lenged her allegations.

[email protected]

Trump is ‘ cherry-picking’ immunity arguments, accuser’s attorney contends

President seeks stay after

defamation suit by writer

who claims he raped her

○

DOW 27,090.

UP 1,173.45, 4.5% ○

NASDAQ 9,018.

UP 334.00, 3.8% ○

S&P 500 3,130.

UP 126.75, 4.2% ○

GOLD $1,643.

DoWN $1.40, 0.1% ○

CRUDE OIL $46.

DoWN $0.40, 0.8% ○

10-YEAR TREASURY

DoWN $5.20 per $1,000; 1.06% yield

CURRENCIES

$1=107.56 Y EN, 0.90 EUroS

has revealed that the virus proba-

bly spread undetected in Califor-

nia and Washington for weeks.

Americans are beginning to face

disruption to their work and trav-

el, and the list of major events

canceled in the face of the out-

break grows by the hour. Many

grocery stores and pharmacies

report being cleaned out of bot-

tled water, disinfectant products

and shelf-stable and frozen foods.

Investors are looking forward

to ADP payroll numbers and fresh

manufacturing data Tuesday to

further suss out the damage coro-

navirus has done to the global

economy. Analysts are predicting

global economic growth could

slow this quarter to the lowest

levels since the financial crisis.

[email protected]

[email protected]

ment Advisers, wrote in commen-

tary Wednesday. “With a closing

yield Tuesday at a n all-time low of

less than 1%, markets are reflect-

ing a heightened amount of un-

certainty related to the coronavi-

rus and macroeconomic implica-

tions.”

European markets mirrored

U.S. optimism Wednesday, with

the benchmark Stoxx 600 index,

Germany’s DAX and France’s C AC

40 all up more than 1.4 percent in

midday trading. Britain’s FTSE

100 climbed 1.6 percent. Asian

markets closed to mixed results,

with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng

down 0.25 percent and Japan’s

Nikkei 225 weakly positive.

Fears about coronavirus’s pres-

ence in the United States have

spiked, as the death toll reached

11 on Wednesday and research

has killed about 3.4 percent of

those diagnosed with the illness

— a higher rate than estimated

previously. On Wednesday, the

number of new coronavirus

deaths reported outside China ex-

ceeded those reported inside the

country — the center of the out-

break — for the first time.

Markets were rattled on Tues-

day when the yield on 10-year

Treasury notes sank to an all-time

low. Bonds are a safe haven for

investors in times of turmoil, and

yields decrease as prices increase.

Gold, another refuge, climbed 2.

percent Tuesday and has contin-

ued to rise, now trading at $1,

per ounce.

“The 10-year treasury is a great

barometer to measure fear,”

Wayne Wicker, chief investment

officer at Vantagepoint Invest-

in a note published Wednesday.

“Biden on the other hand, propos-

es a more moderate change to the

private insurance system that will

build on the Affordable Care Act,

aiming to give more affordable

choices on insurance plans, re-

ducing health care costs, and

making the health care system

less complex.”

On Wednesday, the Interna-

tional Monetary Fund announced

that it is proposing $50 billion in

emergency funding to fight coro-

navirus for low-income and

emerging-market countries. IMF

Managing Director Kristalina

Georgieva s aid the outbreak was a

global problem “calling for a glob-

al response.”

The World Health Organiza-

tion said Tuesday that covid-19,

the disease caused by the virus,

EAMoN QUEENEY For THE WASHINgToN PoST

Lisa Wilder, left, and Allison Fenderson watch Super Tuesday results at a Raleigh, N.C., party for Joe Biden’s supporters. U.S. markets

calmed Wednesday after last week’s sell-off on coronavirus fears, as Biden consolidated the moderate wing of the Democratic Party.

after Biden’s big win in South

Carolina and this morning after

Super Tuesday suggest that do-

mestic U.S. politics may matter as

much as the global health crisis to

investors.”

The Dow Jones industrial aver-

age surged hundreds of points in

the final minutes of the session,

closing at 27,091, up 1,173 points

on the day. T he Standard & Poor’s

500-stock index finished up

4.22 percent, while the tech-

heavy Nasdaq composite index

closed with a 3.85 percent gain.

Mike Bloomberg’s retreat from

the Democratic presidential pri-

mary and a report showing unex-

pected growth in the U.S. service

sector added to Wall Street’s feel-

good vibe.

“Investors are shifting from the

coronavirus to politics, and the

market knows how to play poli-

tics better than the virus,” said

Howard Silverblatt of S&P Dow

Jones Indices. “But stocks could

turn on a dime if there is a new

memo on the coronavirus.”

Health-care stocks roared

nearly 6 percent, leading all 11

market sectors, in response to

Biden’s performance. That eased

the industry’s worries about

Sanders and his Medicare-for-all

plan. Cigna and UnitedHealth

Group were up more than 10 per-

cent in afternoon trading. Huma-

na saw a 12.7 percent spike, while

Anthem closed in on nearly

14.4 percent. UnitedHealth, a

Dow component and industry ba-

rometer, had its best day in a

decade. Big Pharma also had a

good day, w ith Pfizer and Johnson

& Johnson flying 5 percent.

“Sanders’ win would be per-

ceived as an increased risk for

health insurers since he proposes

a free comprehensive national

health insurance program for all

Americans, potentially leading to

the elimination of the existing

health insurance system,” CFRA

Research analyst Sel Hardy said

BY TAYLOR TELFORD

AND THOMAS HEATH

U.S. stock markets surged
Wednesday after Joe Biden’s Su-
per Tuesday run made him a for-
midable moderate counterweight
to Sen. Bernie Sanders’s economi-
cally disruptive proposals in the
Democratic presidential race.
The Dow Jones industrial average
ended the day up nearly 1,
points, or more than 4.5 percent.
The rebound comes amid an
especially volatile window of
trading, with coronavirus panic
spawning a brutal sell-off that
had erased trillions of dollars in
value from global markets. On
Tuesday, the Federal Reserve de-
livered its first emergency rate cut
since the 2008 financial crisis —
bringing the benchmark down 50
basis points. But the central
bank’s move seemed to reinforce
panic Tuesday, rather than easing
it, sending the three major U.S.
indexes down and landing them
back in correction territory.
Ye t on Wednesday, it became
clearer that the former vice presi-
dent had captured primary wins
in 10 states, including Te xas, a
showing that propelled him to the
front of the field. Sanders (I-Vt.)
may still score the day’s biggest
prize, California, where he was
leading.
“Bernie Sanders’ socialist pro-
gram includes lots of proposals to
increase taxes and regulations,
which would weigh on the econo-
my and corporate earnings,” said
Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni
Research. “The market’s sell-off
last week on Sanders’ primary
victories and rebound on Monday

Biden’s big night

revives markets

U.S. indexes up about

4% as moderate stems

Sanders’s momentum

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