
Trump order to help open up retirement plans to private markets, WSJ reports
The Trump order would instruct the U.S. Labor Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission to provide guidance to employers and plan administrators on including investments like private assets in 401(k) plans, according to the WSJ report.
The White House declined to comment on the report.
Private-market investments, often referred to as private assets, include private equity, venture capital, real estate and hedge funds. These assets are not traded on public exchanges and are typically characterized by higher risk and potentially higher returns compared to traditional public-market investments like stocks and bonds.
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NBC News
4 minutes ago
- NBC News
Trump administration pulls $4B in federal funding for California's bullet train project
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Trump administration revoked federal funding for California's high-speed rail project on Wednesday, intensifying uncertainty about how the state will make good on its long-delayed promise of building a bullet train to shuttle riders between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The U.S. Transportation Department announced it was pulling back $4 billion in funding for the project, weeks after signaling it would do so. Overall, a little less than a quarter of the project's funding has come from the federal government. The rest has come from the state, mainly through a voter-approved bond and money from its cap-and-trade program. President Donald Trump and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy both have slammed the project as a 'train to nowhere.' 'The Railroad we were promised still does not exist, and never will,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. 'This project was Severely Overpriced, Overregulated, and NEVER DELIVERED.' The loss marks the latest blow to California by the Trump administration, which has blocked a first-in-the-nation rule to phase out the sale of new gas-powered cars, launched investigations into university admission policies and threatened to pull funding over transgender girls being allowed to compete in girls sports. It also comes as rail project leaders are seeking private investment to help pay for its estimated price tag of more than $100 billion. Voters first approved the project in 2008 and it was supposed to be operating this decade. But cost estimates have consistently grown and its timeline pushed back. State officials are now focused on building a 119-mile (192-kilometer) stretch connecting the Central Valley cities of Bakersfield and Merced that is set to be operating by 2033. The California High Speed Rail Authority is slated to release a report this summer to state lawmakers with an updated funding plan and timeline for the project. Authority officials wrote in a letter earlier this month that the Trump administration made up its mind about revoking funding before thoroughly reviewing the project. They noted that more than 50 structures have already been built, including underpasses, viaducts and bridges to separate the rail line from roadways for safety. 'Canceling these grants without cause isn't just wrong — it's illegal,' authority CEO Ian Choudri said in a statement Wednesday. 'These are legally binding agreements, and the Authority has met every obligation, as confirmed by repeated federal reviews, as recently as February 2025.' The authority has asked potential private investors to express their interest by the end of the month. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state will keep 'all options on the table' to fight the revocation of federal funds. 'Trump wants to hand China the future and abandon the Central Valley. We won't let him,' he said in a statement. The state has 'no viable plan' to complete even the Central Valley segment, said Drew Feeley, acting administrator of the transportation department's Federal Railroad Administration, in a report released last month. He called the project a 'story of broken promises' and a waste of taxpayer dollars. California Democrats also have criticized project spending. Democratic Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan said at a budget hearing earlier this year that her constituents 'overwhelmingly believe' high-speed rail spending 'has been irresponsible.' Newsom plans to extend the state's cap-and-trade program, a key funding source for the project which is set to expire at the end of 2030, through 2045. The program sets a declining limit on the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions large emitters can release. Those polluters can buy allowances from the state needed to pollute, and about 45% of that money goes into what's known as the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, according to the Independent Emissions Market Advisory Committee, a group of experts that reviews the program. The fund helps pay for climate and transportation projects, including high-speed rail. The bullet train project receives 25% of the money from the fund, which ends up being a little less or a little more than $1 billion annually, depending on the year. Newsom in May proposed guaranteeing $1 billion a year for the project from the fund, but lawmakers have not agreed to that.


Daily Mail
4 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Messy Target aisle viral video leaves customers furious: 'no respect'
Plastic hangers littered the floor. Several overstuffed clothing racks barely contained their merchandise. Only a few shirts remained folded. That's what TikToker @theurbanpony09 found when she filmed her curse-word-laden visit to her local Target store. 'Why is it in such disarray?' she asked in the video, while looking for a wardrobe refresh in the women's section. 'Customers have no respect.' Target's clothing section has had a rough year, experts told 'I hate to pile on (pun intended), but Target's apparel merchandising and maintenance is an ongoing issue,' Carol Spieckerman, a retail consultant, said. 'When shoppers are shopping off the floor, it undermines Target's core brand promise of accessible style.' For years, the big-box retailer has attracted customers with colorful marketing, thoughtful in-store lighting design, and carefully curated exclusive clothing lines. Target has partnered with high-profile fashion brands, like glasses-providers Warby Parker, jean-maker Levi's, athleisure brand Champion, and accessory company Kate Spade. The collaborations gave shoppers the feel of constantly-revolving, high-end merchandise for big box prices. But according to Spieckerman, stores are short-staffed. Workers are often pulled to the front end to run registers, she said, leaving the clothing department understaffed — and the displays in disrepair. 'In some stores, Target's apparel sections create a jarring disconnect with the rest of the store's typically polished presentation,' she said. 'Target's apparel chaos stands in sharp contrast to the rest of the store's organization, highlighting just how fixable — and inexcusable — this problem really is.' Target did not respond to a request for comment. The TikToker also did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The retailer's apparel image has also taken a hit from political controversy, particularly when it comes to its annual Pride collection launch. The line drew conservative backlash in 2023 over the inclusion of swimsuits marketed to trans customers. LGBTQ shoppers expressed frustration this year when placeholder text appeared on dozens of products. The backlash — and a widespread boycott over the company scaling back its DEI efforts — has contributed to multiple quarters of declining sales and profits. Staffers have also been nervous about the company's declining sales and headline-attracting controversies. 'I want to be clear, we're not satisfied with these results, so we're moving with urgency to navigate through this period of volatility,' Target CEO Brian Cornell said during a May earnings call. Internally, some Target employees are worried about the company's future. Several have turned to social media to voice concerns about shrinking store hours, job security, and the company's direction. 'Underlying profit at Target is squeezed and that makes it more likely the company will be cautious in hiring and tight in the labor hours it allocates,' Neil Saunders, a retail expert at GlobalData, previously told 'That makes staff worry for their own jobs.' Still, the company may be turning a corner. Target's stock price dropped more than 24 percent in the first half of 2025. But shares have rebounded in recent weeks as the company tries to claw back its market dominance. The stock price is up over 3.6 percent in the past month.


The Guardian
20 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Zuckerberg says Meta will build data center the size of Manhattan in latest AI push
Mark Zuckerberg proclaimed that Meta would spend hundreds of billions of dollars on developing artificial intelligence products in the near future and, to that end, construct a data center planned to be nearly the size of Manhattan. The parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp is among the large tech companies that have struck high-profile deals, and doled out multimillion-dollar pay packages to AI researchers in recent months – some as high as $100m – to fast-track work on machines that could outthink humans on many tasks, a concept known as 'super-intelligence' or 'artificial general intelligence'. Its first multi-gigawatt data center, dubbed Prometheus, is expected to come online in 2026, while another, called Hyperion, will be able to scale up to 5 gigawatts over the coming years, Zuckerberg said. 'We're building multiple more titan clusters as well. Just one of these covers a significant part of the footprint of Manhattan,' the billionaire CEO said. This article includes content provided by Facebook. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'. He also pointed to a report from industry publication SemiAnalysis that Meta was on track to be the first AI lab to bring a gigawatt-plus supercluster online. Zuckerberg touted the strength in the company's core advertising business to justify the massive spending amid investor concerns on whether the expenditure would pay off. 'We have the capital from our business to do this,' he said. The company, which generated nearly $165bn in revenue last year, reorganized its AI efforts last month under a division called Superintelligence Labs after setbacks for its open-source Llama 4 model and key staff departures. It is betting that the division will generate new cashflows from the Meta AI app, image-to-video ad tools and smart glasses. Sign up to TechScape A weekly dive in to how technology is shaping our lives after newsletter promotion DA Davidson analyst Gil Luria said Meta was investing aggressively in AI as the technology has already boosted its ad business by allowing it to sell more ads and at higher prices. In recent weeks, Zuckerberg has personally led an aggressive talent raid for the Meta Superintelligence Labs, which will be led by former Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang and ex-GitHub chief Nat Friedman, after Meta invested $14.3bn in Scale. Meta had raised its 2025 capital expenditure predictions to between $64bn and $72bn in April, aiming to bolster the company's position against rivals OpenAI and Google.