Trump's 3,700 Trades Light Up Wall Street's Conflict Alarms
President Trump disclosed more than 3,700 trades during the first quarter, with transactions valued between $220m and $750m across companies including Nvidia, Oracle, Microsoft and Boeing. Several purchases lined up neatly with policy moves that followed: at least $1m of Nvidia bought on January 6, days before chip exports to China were approved; Oracle stock bought a week before its TikTok stake was finalised; Boeing bought before a China jet order was announced. The White House denies any conflict of interest, and the 2012 STOCK Act does not cover the president. Enforcement capacity has thinned in parallel - DOJ headcount is down 4,000, SEC enforcement actions have fallen 30% this year, and CFTC actions are off 80%.
Musk Loses OpenAI Suit as Jury Calls Time on the Clock
A federal jury unanimously rejected Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI, finding the statute of limitations had expired on his claim that the company stole a charity by converting to for-profit status. Deliberations took under two hours. Microsoft, also named as a defendant, was cleared. Musk's lawyers signalled an appeal; remaining antitrust claims against Microsoft are unlikely to proceed.
Graduates Boo the AI Gospel as Job Fears Harden
Commencement speeches championing AI drew open hostility from students this year, including at Carnegie Mellon, the University of Central Florida and the University of Arizona, where former Google CEO Eric Schmidt spoke. Polling shows 54% of Americans aged 18 to 29 are pessimistic about AI and 60% worry it will take jobs. Tens of thousands of layoffs explicitly attributed to AI have landed in 2025.