Business

By Leika Kihara

TOKYO, May 28 (Reuters) – Federal Reserve Vice Chair Philip Jefferson said on Thursday it was appropriate to focus on returning inflation to the central bank’s 2% target given the U.S. labour market has been “very resilient” to the current energy shock.

“When I’m thinking about my policy decision meeting by meeting, I’m absolutely focused on price stability, but by mandate I also need to keep in mind what’s happening in the labour market,” Jefferson said during a question and answer session after a speech at a conference hosted by the BOJ and its think tank in Tokyo.

“The U.S. labour market has been very resilient to the current shock. Given that resiliency, it seems appropriate that the focus will be on returning inflation to 2%,” he said.

Jefferson’s comments were his first since last Friday’s swearing in of Kevin Warsh as the Fed’s new chair. 

Jefferson said it was difficult to say “moment by moment” what exactly the Fed’s rate policy could be given the uncertainty over the extent and duration of the war-induced energy shock.

“What all segments of society are noticing is increasing energy and gasoline prices in particular. We are sensitive to how that’s impacting the lives of everyday people,” he said.

But the challenge for the U.S. economy was that aside from the fallout from the energy shock, expanding AI investment was boosting growth, he said.

“The energy shock is a headwind for growth, but we are still having growth during this episode,” Jefferson said. “In terms of monetary policy communication, the emphasis has been on monitoring the second-round effect associated with supply shocks and a surge in investment demand.”

In his prepared remarks to the conference, he said the current setting of monetary policy is in the right place amid ongoing upside risks to the inflation outlook.

“I have not prejudged the next meeting and look forward to engaging with my colleagues about the policy necessary to best achieve our dual-mandate goals,” he said about the next Federal Open Market Committee meeting on June 16-17.

(Reporting by Leika Kihara; additional reporting by Michael Derby; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and John Mair)

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The most enduring memories that Clark and Dan Hunt share of their father, the sports tycoon Lamar Hunt, have less to do with all the World Cup games they saw together and more to do with the long, strange and often sinewy roads they took to get to them.

The van rides around Europe with a random cache of reporters, one of them a young CBS broadcaster named Verne Lundquist. Those side trips to find the best wienerschnitzel and ice cream. The fences they scaled to go swimming at Italian hotel pools long closed for the day. And the Mexican restaurant that proved to be the downfall of them all.

“My dad, he could eat anything,” Dan Hunt recalled, thinking back to that night during the 1986 World Cup. “I mean, he had a cast-iron stomach. He never got sick. And that about killed him. That was the food that took down the Hunt family.”

In wide-ranging interviews with The Associated Press, the Hunt brothers — Clark, the chairman of the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs and Dan, the president of Major League Soccer club FC Dallas — reflected on the robust soccer legacy left by their late father.

Without him, the U.S. may well have been watching the World Cup being played elsewhere next month rather than hosting it.

It was Lamar Hunt, after all, who helped professional soccer gain a foothold in the U.S. with his investment in the North American Soccer League. And when it folded in the 1980s, it was an undeterred Hunt who helped found MLS, whose very existence was one of the requirements of FIFA to allow his country to host the 1994 World Cup.

Lamar Hunt served as co-chairman of the organizing committee for matches in Dallas that year. Now, some 32 years later, Clark Hunt is serving in the same capacity for matches in Kansas City while Dan has taken on that role in Dallas.

Unlike the last World Cup played in the U.S., though, four group-stage matches and two knockout games will be played at Arrowhead Stadium, the home of the Chiefs, and a building Lamar Hunt long called his favorite place in the world.

“It’s going to be special,” Clark Hunt said, “and I think it goes back to thinking about my dad a lot. That’s what I’m going to do during those games, just think about how excited he would be to see the World Cup in Arrowhead Stadium.”

To say soccer was fledgling in the U.S. in the 1950s would be an understatement. There were no professional leagues to speak of, and after losing two of three games at the World Cup in 1950, the Americans would go four decades without qualifying at all.

It took a trip across the Atlantic Ocean for Lamar Hunt to fall in love with the sport.

His future wife, Norma Hunt, was attending University College Dublin as a Rotary scholar in the early 1960s, and the son of oil tycoon H.L. Hunt had gone to visit her. They found themselves at a Shamrock Rovers match, watching from a standing-room-only terrace on a cool night, and became engrossed in the throbbing, fevered pitch of European football.

“I think,” Clark Hunt said, “that may have been my dad’s first professional soccer game.”

The experience stayed with Lamar Hunt, even as he returned to the U.S. and poured himself into a different kind of football, helping to found the American Football League — which would soon merge with the NFL — and the Dallas Texans, now the Chiefs.

A few years later, Hunt returned to Europe to take in his first World Cup. It was 1966, and he watched as the host England beat West Germany in an historic final at Wembley Stadium for what remains its only championship.

That year, a group of entrepeneaurs that included Hunt and Jack Kent Cooke established the United Soccer Association, which would later merge with the National Professional Soccer League to create the North American Soccer League. For nearly two decades, the NASL would push U.S. soccer forward, luring such stars as Pele, Franz Beckenbauer and Carlos Alberto to North America, and laying the groundwork for future generations of American players.

“We know from his ventures into professional football that he was not afraid of a challenge,” Clark Hunt said, “and he was always an optimist, too, and many of his ventures probably had long odds. But he had tremendous perseverence and tremendous work ethic, and he had a vision and a belief for what he was doing.”

The NASL grew quickly throughout the 1970s — too quickly, as it turned out. Many new owners did not have the resources to withstand losses while their clubs were getting off the ground, and they began to fold, leading to several years of contraction.

After the 1984 season, with attendance waning and games no longer televised, the league collapsed.

“My dad was always great about not sharing his negative feelings, but I’m sure he had them,” Clark Hunt said. “I remember as a high school and college student being very upset about it, even though I didn’t have any real, you know, direct nexus to the team. But I just knew how disappointing it was for him, and sad that a sport I had come to love had really disappeared.”

Professional soccer didn’t disappear for long, though.

Lamar Hunt was nothing if not persistent, and he viewed every failure as a learning opportunity. So, when soccer’s governing body, FIFA, told organizers for the 1994 World Cup that one of its requirements to host the tournament was a top-tier domestic league, Hunt used what he had learned from the NASL in helping to establish Major League Soccer.

“You knew that if Lamar Hunt was part of it,” said Thom Meredith, his right-hand man for many years, “it meant something. You had Robert Kraft and all these other guys, but when it came down to it, you had Lamar Hunt in the room.”

Hunt not only helped bankroll the league but owned three of its first franchises; the family still owns FC Dallas, but divested itself of clubs in Columbus and Kansas City. Over the years, the league has grown to 30 clubs across the U.S. and Canada, attracted stars such as David Beckham and Lionel Messi, and laid the groundwork for robust youth soccer programs nationwide.

“My dad would be so pleased to see where MLS is today,” Clark Hunt said, “and he would be so excited about where it’s going.”

While domestic soccer was important to Hunt, it was the World Cup that captivated him, beginning with that 1966 classic all the way through the 2002 edition hosted by South Korea and Japan, which helped spur the growth of the game in Asia.

Most years, Hunt would pack his family in rental cars and crisscross host countries to catch every game they could.

Clark Hunt, who later starred on the college soccer team at SMU, attended his first World Cup in 1978. But rather than the games, his most vivid memory was of a plaza outside a stadium in Düsseldorf, where activities had been set up for kids. One involved kicking a ball through a hole cut into a piece of wood, and Lamar Hunt had just as much fun trying as his 9-year-old son.

Dan Hunt’s first World Cup experience came in Mexico in 1986. The lowlight was that meal that left the whole family feeling ill, but the highlight was undoubtedly the final, when Diego Maradona helped Argentina prevail over West Germany in Mexico City.

“We had seats at about the 40-yard line, you know? Great seats. And we were there with our tickets and people were stitting there, and they were unwilling to move. Security was unwilling to move them. So we had no seats,” Dan Hunt recalled. “So my dad, true to form, solved the problem by buying more tickets, and we were right behind the goal for the penalty-kick shootout.”

Both of the brothers were busy at the start of the 2002 tournament, so Lamar Hunt — who died four years later at the age of 74 — headed to Asia by himself. On one of his first days there, his briefcase containing all of his money, tickets and travel documents was stolen, leaving the billionaire entrepeneur to figure out how to use an ATM in a foreign country.

“He stuck is best card in and started to push buttons,” Dan Hunt said, “and he panicked and it shredded his card. So we’d send him cash. And then he was in South Korea, headed back to Japan, and they confiscated it all because he was over the legal limit.

“I just remember thinking, ‘My dad is totally going to get kidnapped.’”

When the U.S. was awarded the World Cup along with Mexico and Canada in June 2018, organizers in Kansas City and executives with the Chiefs quickly went to work. The city had missed out on hosting matches in 1994 after FIFA determined Arrowhead Stadium would be unable to fit the required pitch, and they weren’t going to let that happen twice.

Over the course of several years, and at a cost of nearly $20 million, seats were removed from the lower bowl of the NFL stadium and other modifications were made so that it could make its World Cup debut, now just days away. Its first game: Messi and defending champion Argentina against Algeria on June 16.

Kansas City will host six matches in all, includeding a quarterfinal, and the metropolitan area is serving as a home base not only for la Albiceleste and Algeria but also for perennial power England and the Netherlands, a longtime Hunt family favorite.

Meanwhile, five group-stage matches will be played at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, not far from where Lamar Hunt once lived. Four more will be played at the home of the Cowboys in the knockout rounds, including a semifinal match on July 14.

“I think this is one of the final pegs of fulfilling dad’s legacy,” Dan Hunt said. “He called Arrowhead Stadium his favorite place on earth, and it’s just so cool to have games there. And you know, Dallas was his hometown, and he loved it so much. So I think he would be just excited that we’re back here. I think he would be over the moon.”

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AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

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By Rishika Sadam and Sai Ishwarbharath B

HYDERABAD/BENGALURU, May 27 (Reuters) – U.S. carrier American Airlines Group plans to double headcount at its India technology hub to about 800 by early next year, two people familiar with the matter said.

Rival Southwest Airlines last week announced plans to expand its Hyderabad global capability center (GCC) to about 1,000 employees over the next few years.

Global firms such as JPMorgan Chase, Walmart, McDonald’s, Nvidia and Eli Lilly have also expanded technology operations in India to tap its talent pool, as costs rise elsewhere and macro uncertainties persist.

Once mainly back-office units, these hubs now handle core functions including engineering, R&D, finance and operations.

American Airlines set up its Hyderabad hub in 2024 and employs about 400 staff focused on software engineering, AI and cybersecurity, the sources said.

The airline said it intends to continue hiring but did not share specific details on the headcount, saying only that the hub has “several hundred” employees and forms part of its global technology network alongside U.S. teams.

“Teams in Fort Worth, Phoenix and Hyderabad work closely with the business to digitize processes, deploy new tools that improve speed to market and business outcomes, and build a more resilient airline and better experience for team members and customers,” the company told Reuters.

The airline has increased its IT investment and U.S.-based technology headcount every year since 2021, it added.

India has emerged as the world’s largest GCC hub, with more than 2,100 centers employing about 2.36 million people and generating nearly $100 billion in revenue, according to a 2026 Nasscom-Zinnov report.

(Reporting by Rishika Sadam in Hyderabad and Sai Ishwarbharath B in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Skariachan and Devika Syamnath)

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Buying a car is a major investment, especially when everyday costs keep rising. It can seem especially daunting given that the average price of a new vehicle is close to $50,000 in 2026. This is why the experts at Edmunds have compiled a list of the five least expensive vehicles on sale in 2026.

While there are certain qualities that you’re just not going to find in a budget-priced vehicle — powerful acceleration, for example, or leather seating — the five vehicles here all come with a respectable amount of features for the price. In Edmunds’ evaluation testing, they also earned average or better overall scoring. Another bonus is that each one gets good fuel economy, helping you save money when it comes time to refuel. All listed prices below include the destination fee.

The Venue is Hyundai’s subcompact SUV that also happens to be the least expensive vehicle for the 2026 model year. The base Venue SE trim isn’t as well equipped as some of the other entry-level vehicles listed here, but it does have an 8-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. In testing, Edmunds found the Venue has a useful interior fitted with easy-to-use controls. You also get a long warranty and an EPA-estimated 31 mpg combined city/highway average. One thing that isn’t available is the option to add all-wheel drive, however. Edmunds’ overall evaluation score: 6/10

2026 Venue starting price: $22,650

Like the Venue, the Trax is a five-seat subcompact SUV that serves as Chevrolet’s smallest and least expensive model. It’s also strictly front-wheel-drive; all-wheel drive isn’t available on any trim. Edmunds praised the surprising amount of interior space given the Trax’s tidy proportions. Another cabin highlight is the easy-to-use 8-inch touchscreen with wireless smartphone connectivity that comes on the base LS trim. Higher trims are outfitted with an 11-inch screen. The EPA estimates you’ll get up to 30 mpg combined with the Trax. Edmunds’ overall evaluation score: 7/10

2026 Trax starting price: $23,495

The Kia K4 is Kia’s least expensive small car. It comes as a sedan or, as a new entry for 2026, a sleek-looking hatchback. Edmunds praised the K4’s generous rear legroom and long lineup of standard features. Even a base LX trim includes a big 12.3-inch touchscreen and adaptive cruise control. Another plus point is the K4’s attractive cabin. It looks and feels like it belongs in a car with a much higher price tag. The K4 can get up to an EPA-estimated 33 mpg combined. Edmunds’ overall evaluation score: 7.5/10

2026 K4 sedan starting price: $23,535

The Nissan Sentra enters the 2026 model year completely redesigned inside and out. This small sedan has a bold new look and an impressive roster of standard driver aids. The base S trim has adaptive cruise control, blind-spot warning and lane keeping assistance. During testing, Edmunds gave the Sentra high marks for its comfortable seating, big trunk and modernized 12.3-inch touchscreen. The Sentra also gets up to an EPA-estimated 33 mpg combined. Acceleration is leisurely, however, even for this group of cars. Edmunds’ overall evaluation score: 6.2/10

2026 Sentra starting price: $23,845

Coming in at No. 5 of the 2026 class of least expensive new cars is the Hyundai Elantra small sedan. It boasts one of the largest interiors in its class, a roomy trunk and a long warranty. The Elantra’s entry-level SE trim is equipped with the basics plus a few nice extras such as wireless connectivity for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Its standard 8-inch touchscreen isn’t as big as the Sentra’s or K4’s, however. The EPA estimates the Elantra can get up to 35 mpg in combined driving. Edmunds’ overall evaluation score: 6.8/10

2026 Elantra starting price: $23,870

The five cheapest cars will surprise you in terms of how much you get for your money. Far from being the no-frills economy vehicles of yesteryear — when wind-up windows were the norm and air conditioning was often optional — they overdeliver in terms of style, tech touches and safety features.

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This story was provided to The Associated Press by the automotive website Edmunds.

Nick Kurczewski is a contributor at Edmunds.

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By Clara Denina

LONDON, May 27 (Reuters) – There has been a surge in mining companies seeking U.S. listings this year, but even more striking is the change in language as firms explicitly target defence-related demand for critical minerals.

At least 18 companies, mostly Canadian and Australian but also some U.S. startups, have completed or are pursuing dual U.S. listings this year, versus just three in 2025, according to exchange filings and company disclosures reviewed by Reuters.

They span in value from about $25 million to $7.5 billion and mark a shift in how critical mineral producers seek access to capital markets as listings explicitly pitch for defence end-use applications.

DEFENCE FOCUS

This year’s transactions have brought producers of antimony, rare earths, tungsten and uranium to the NYSE and Nasdaq – all minerals designated strategic by the Pentagon and used in fighter jets, missiles and radar systems.

The firms are positioning themselves as suppliers of munitions, armour-piercing materials and of inputs for U.S. weapons systems, their public filings show, departing from traditional mining IPO language focused on supply-demand fundamentals and long-term price cycles.

“Our goal is to cover direct defence demand for tungsten,” Guardian Metal Resources CEO Oliver Friesen told Reuters, estimating U.S. military annual demand at 2,000 to 3,000 metric tons.

Guardian aims to help the U.S. rebuild its domestic tungsten supply chain, citing uses in armour-piercing ammunition. It has received $6.2 million from the Pentagon and has applied for additional funding from the U.S. military that would be worth at least $100 million, Reuters reported in March.

United States Antimony secured a $245 million Defense Logistics Agency contract to supply antimony for the defence stockpile, where the metal is used in munitions and other military applications.

Rare earth developers are also emphasising defence uses. REalloy Inc said its project contains dysprosium and terbium used in magnets for advanced weapons systems, while Rare Earth Americas, backed by Australia’s Gina Rinehart, partly focused its IPO on “defence applications”.

Most companies have raised modest sums so far. Guardian secured $68.3 million, Rare Earth Americas $63.3 million, and Atlas Critical Minerals about $11 million, according to filings.

But several have secured government funding through Pentagon-linked programs, suggesting the listings are as much about unlocking strategic financing and investor access as upfront capital raising, analysts and lawyers said.

Company U.S. Listing Previous / Date

Concurrent

Atlas Critical Nasdaq: ATCX OTCQB (Jupiter Jan.

Minerals Gold) 13

Blue Moon Metals Nasdaq: BMM TSXV, Frankfurt, Jan.

OTCQX 26

Santacruz Silver Nasdaq TSX-V Jan.

21

Mayfair Gold NYSE TSX-V → TSX Jan.

American/ 27

NYSE

Aris Mining NYSE: ARMN TSX Feb.

19

Versamet Nasdaq TSXV / private Mar.

Royalties precursor 6

Highlander Silver NYSE CSE / TSXV Mar.

American: 11

HSLV

U.S. Antimony NYSE (uplist) NYSE American Mar.

Corp 11

Guardian Metal NYSE American LSE Mar.

Resources 20

OceanaGold NYSE: OGC TSX, ASX Apr.

7

The Metals Nasdaq: TMCR TSX-V Apr.

Royalty 8

Nicola Mining Nasdaq ADSs: TSX-V Apr.

NICM 13

Compiled by Clara

Denina

EQUITY STAKES, PROJECT FUNDING

Some Canadian-listed miners, including Lithium Americas and Trilogy Metals, are tapping U.S. defence-linked financing through equity stakes and project funding as part of Washington’s push to secure key minerals.

That push follows a series of crises that left the United States and other Western nations racing to rebuild domestic mineral supply chains and reduce their dependence on China’s dominant production and processing.

China imposed export controls on antimony in August 2024, tightening global supply of a mineral used in military equipment and raising concerns about U.S. defence supply chains.

By December 2025, the U.S. military had begun testing small-scale refineries for critical minerals, shifting from funding projects to building processing capacity itself.

A 2025 Chinese export ban on tungsten has limited feedstock for U.S. refineries built in the 1950s for filament light bulbs, which have production capacity of about 18,000 tons but are operating significantly below that, Guardian’s Friesen said.

In November 2025, China issued a one-year suspension of its export ban on antimony, gallium, germanium, and super-hard materials to the U.S., but kept restrictions on military users, easing commercial supply but leaving the Pentagon reliant on domestic sources.

In addition to China’s export curbs, Washington has faced restrictions on cobalt exports from the Democratic Republic of Congo and other risks.

Company U.S. Plan

Resolution Nasdaq

Minerals

Am. Rare Earths Nasdaq H2’26

Sunshine Silver NYSE (SSMR)

McEwen Copper IPO Q4’26

Jindalee / USE Nasdaq SPAC H2’26

Barrick / NA NYSE/TSX vehicle

Barrick

Compiled by Clara Denina

CAPITAL FOLLOWS POLICY

Private capital has also responded. JPMorgan, for example, said in October it could invest up to $10 billion in sectors tied to national economic security, including critical minerals.

In February, U.S. President Donald Trump launched “Project Vault”, a $12 billion strategic minerals stockpile initiative backed largely by the U.S. Export-Import Bank.

The administration has also taken equity stakes in mining firms including MP Materials, USA Rare Earth and Korea Zinc.

Investors say U.S. government equity offers more than capital, giving companies access to defence-linked contracts, subsidies and policy backing, and helping protect them from price cyclicality.

Still, caution remains.

“There’s absolutely a lot of money going into defence-driven exploration, but a lot of it is also very speculative right now,” said Rick Werner, co-chair of the capital markets and securities practice at law firm Haynes Boone.

“As long as you can gain access to the mines and the resources, I don’t see why they can’t break China’s chokehold over it,” Werner said, “but it’ll take time and money.”

($1 = 1.3754 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Clara Denina, additional reporting by Ernest Scheyder; editing by Veronica Brown and Jason Neely)

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(WASHINGTON) – President Donald Trump meets with his Cabinet on Wednesday at a precarious moment for talks aimed at ending the war with Iran, just days after insisting that his administration and Tehran had “largely negotiated” a settlement but with the negotiations still in a state of flux. Closure to his war of choice may be unsatisfactory, putting off many critical issues to be resolved later.

Elsewhere, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton easily defeated four-term Sen. John Cornyn in the latest contest where Trump sought to oust an incumbent he saw as insufficiently loyal. The scandal-plagued Republican now faces Democratic state Rep. James Talarico in November, with control of the Senate an open question.

And, the 79-year-old president emerged from another medical exam saying “Everything checked out PERFECTLY” after working to dismiss concerns about his age and stamina. The White House said his more than three hours at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center were spent doing preventive medical and dental checkups.

Here’s the Latest:

President Donald Trump will meet with his Cabinet on Wednesday at a precarious moment for talks aimed at ending the war with Iran, just days after insisting that his administration and Tehran had “largely negotiated” a settlement but with the negotiations still in a state of flux.

As he prepares to huddle with his top aides, Trump is projecting confidence that he’s closing in on a deal that will reopen the Strait of Hormuz and provide him a credible argument that Iran’s nuclear capability has been diminished enough to declare victory, winding down a conflict that’s been politically unpopular for Republicans.

The emerging deal puts off many critical issues to be resolved later and has already exposed the president to fierce criticism — even from some of his own supporters — that Iran’s hard-line leaders will emerge from the conflict battered but emboldened.

Yet another White House construction project is underway. Crews are erecting a temporary octagon-shaped cage on the South Lawn for next month’s UFC bout, timed to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary — and President Donald Trump ’s 80th birthday.

Online renderings depict what the completed, wire-mesh-fence-ringed fight space is expected to look like ahead of the June 14 event, ringed by a red, white and blue stage under a towering arch featuring stars and stripes patterns and two large screens carrying the action live. Thousands of temporary seats will surround the cage and stage, including ringside space for a full marching band.

“I have never seen anybody want anything so much as people want those tickets,” Trump said recently. “That’s gonna be something.”

In a social media post, Trump congratulated Paxton on a “tremendous win” and promised that “I will do some nice, big, beautiful rallies for Ken. Texas, this will be FUN!

Trump also congratulated Cornyn “for having run a strong and powerful race but, more importantly, having had a truly great career.”

In his endorsement of Paxton, Trump said Cornyn “was not supportive of me when times were tough” and that “John was very late in backing me.”

But Trump said Wednesday that, “John will remain my friend for a long time to come, as we both watch Ken become a fantastic, common-sense Senator.”

Joe Biden sued the Justice Department on Tuesday in an effort to block the release of audio recordings and transcripts of the former president’s interview with a ghostwriter that were obtained by the special counsel who investigated his handling of classified documents.

Biden’s lawyers said in a lawsuit filed in Washington’s federal court that the Justice Department plans to release the files to Congress and a conservative group, the Heritage Foundation, after the department had previously argued that they were exempt from disclosure under the public records law.

Biden’s lawyers argued that the disclosure would “constitute an unwarranted invasion of President Biden’s privacy.”

“Every American, including a sitting or former Vice President, has a right to privacy in the personal conversations he has within his own home,” his attorneys wrote. “And when the U.S. Department of Justice obtains that private information through a criminal investigation, the Department bears a particular responsibility to protect it from disclosure.”

The Trump administration wants all current and future federal employees to sign nondisclosure agreements, part of a continuing crackdown on leaks to the media.

A proposed notice, announced Tuesday on the Office of Personnel Management website, is expected to be officially published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, seeking comment on a draft NDA to be used by federal agencies for “both new and existing employees.”

“The form is intended to document Federal employees’ acknowledgment of, and agreement to comply with, current legal obligations to safeguard nonpublic, confidential, or proprietary information, created or obtained through their official duties, while expressly preserving the right to make disclosures authorized by law,” the notice said.

The proposed notice seeks comment on several questions, including whether the NDA should cover only unclassified information and what appropriate actions, if any, agencies should consider for new or current employees who choose not to sign the agreement.

Trump is on a winning streak in Republican primaries, but now he must win in the November midterms, when Republicans face a broader electorate that is concerned about the president’s second term and the economy.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, easily defeating four-term Sen. John Cornyn in the latest contest where Trump sought to oust an incumbent he saw as insufficiently loyal.

Trump endorsed Paxton last week, calling him a “true MAGA warrior.” Paxton’s victory in Tuesday’s runoff makes Cornyn — who was first elected to the Senate in 2002 — the first Republican senator from Texas to lose the party’s nomination for reelection.

Cheers rang through the ballroom at Paxton’s election night party when the race was called, and he took the stage to supporters chanting his name. He quickly gave credit to Trump.

“When everyone in Washington told him to abandon me and abandon the people of Texas, he didn’t listen,” Paxton said. “President Trump is the leader of our party, and his endorsement is the most powerful force in politics.”

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May 27 (Reuters) – The non-profit that controls OpenAI will commit an initial $250 million for grants, partnerships and direct work aimed at helping workers and economies navigate the disruption caused by AI technology, it said on Wednesday. 

The funds, the first such commitment from the OpenAI Foundation, will back research into AI’s impact on the labor market, support workers and communities facing near-term displacement and explore new ways to distribute economic gains from AI more broadly.

“The current pace of change means the window to get this right is shorter than we’re used to, and the cost of getting it wrong is profound,” the non-profit said in a statement.

The rising use of AI tools capable of automating tasks such as coding have sparked fears of widespread job losses, with several companies including Block and Standard Chartered explicitly citing AI efficiencies for recent layoffs.

The OpenAI Foundation received a 26% stake in the startup’s for-profit entity last year as part of a restructuring that valued its holding at $130 billion at the time, making it one of the world’s biggest charities. In March, OpenAI committed to investing at least $1 billion through the non-profit over ‌the next year in AI-tied projects, including ​life sciences and community programs.

The foundation said on Wednesday its first initiatives would be announced later this year and that it was building a team that would not just distribute grants like a typical non-profit, but also run some programs directly, instead of acting solely as an intermediary.

Grants will go to non-profits as well as a wide range of other organizations, it said.

Projects that the foundation is interested in include those that involve AI-powered simulations to model how economies might evolve as the technology improves.  

(Reporting by Aditya Soni in Bengaluru and Deepa Seetharaman in San Francisco; Editing by Jonathan Ananda)

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By Sheila Dang

HOUSTON, May 27 (Reuters) – Chevron shareholders rejected a proposal that would have required an independent board chair separate from the CEO role, according to preliminary voting results at the annual meeting on Wednesday.

Chevron opposed the proposal brought by the National Legal and Policy Center, saying it should have the flexibility to choose the structure of its board.

Proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis had recommended that investors approve the proposal, arguing that an independent board chair helps lead to a more proactive and effective board.

The vote comes after ConocoPhillips investors struck down a similar proposal for the U.S. oil producer earlier this month.

Chevron shareholders also approved the election of all 12 nominees to its board and rejected two other shareholder proposals to produce reports on indigenous peoples’ rights and human rights impacts.

All voting results were in line with what Chevron recommended.

(Reporting by Sheila Dang in Houston and Vallari Srivasatava in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)

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By Kevin Buckland

TOKYO, May 27 (Reuters) – AI exuberance and robust earnings will continue to power Japan’s Nikkei to record highs, even as its blistering rally makes it hard for forecasters to keep up, analysts said in a Reuters poll.

The median forecast in a Reuters poll sees the Japanese benchmark index scaling an all-time peak at 69,000 by the end of next year, after it set a record top of 65,408.87 on Monday. It ended Tuesday trading at 64,996.09.

However, the median forecast for end-2026 is 62,800 after the Nikkei surged nearly 10% since May 20’s low of 59,292.25 as the market turned more optimistic on a near-term end to the Iran war, catapulting tech shares to double-digit gains. AI-focused startup investor SoftBank Group soared more than 60% over the period.

Nomura Securities’ head of macro research Yunosuke Ikeda is bullish on stocks but the pace of the Nikkei’s climb has outpaced his forecasts for it to be 63,000 in December and 65,000 a year later.

The rally “is just too sharp to catch up with” as a forecaster, he said.

Seven of 12 respondents to an additional question said their views around AI driving stock market performance had remained about the same compared to three months ago. The remaining five said they were more optimistic.

At the same time, Nomura’s Ikeda said further AI optimism isn’t a precondition for stock gains.

“Market sentiment about AI sustainability is choppy, which is why the Nikkei has been volatile,” he said. “But earnings growth is stable even without AI, so the uptrend for stocks is likely to continue.”

To be sure, the AI boom is powering share gauges to ever-higher records across the globe. But Japanese equities have benefited from additional tailwinds, including shareholder-centred governance reforms by the Tokyo Stock Exchange and growth-focused policies under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

The Nikkei has soared nearly 70% in the past two years, outpacing gains for benchmark indexes in the United States, China, and Europe.

Among 16 forecasts for the end of the year only four were below 60,000. Among the bears, IG Markets analyst Tony Sycamore predicted a slide to 55,000 by end-December.

“The Nikkei likely topped out this month” opening the way for “a 20% pullback before year-end,” he said.

Respondents were split on the chances of a correction – generally defined as a 10% drop or more – in the next three months with six saying it was “likely” or “highly likely” versus five who said it was “unlikely”.

Sony Financial’s chief economist Hiroshi Watanabe, who sees the Nikkei reaching 70,000 by end-2027, was in the latter camp but added drops of 5% to 10% “are likely to occur frequently”.

Although the Iran war has weighed on stock prices amid worries about oil-led inflation and higher interest rates “that is unlikely to halt the development of AI,” Watanabe said.

And on the contrary, “accelerating inflation will actually mean an expansion in both the overall economy and corporate earnings as well,” buoying equities in the medium term, he said.

(Other stories from the Reuters Q2 global stock markets poll package)

(Reporting by Kevin Buckland; Additional reporting by Rocky Swift and Junko Fujita; Polling by Sarupya Ganguly; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )

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May 26 (Reuters) – Elon Musk’s SpaceX is eligible for inclusion in both the Russell U.S. Equity Indexes and FTSE Global Equity Index Series under newly announced fast-entry rules, according to index provider FTSE Russell.

FTSE Russell, a London Stock Exchange Group business, proposed introducing a fast-entry mechanism for initial public offerings and revising eligibility requirements for its Russell U.S. Equity Indexes in February.

SpaceX is estimated to carry an investable market capitalization of about $70 billion, a figure that clears two major index eligibility thresholds — the $17.5 billion market-adjusted breakpoint for Russell Top 500 inclusion and the $13.5 billion fast-entry threshold set by the FTSE GEIS, the index provider said.

SpaceX’s listing is expected to be the highlight of what is shaping up to be one of the busiest years for IPOs in recent memory, with several high-profile venture-backed companies and startups, including OpenAI and Anthropic, laying the groundwork for their respective debuts.

Musk’s space venture, which is eyeing a public listing that could value it at $1.75 trillion, is expected to be added to Russell Top 50, Russell Top 200, Russell 1000 indexes.

It could be included in FTSE GEIS’ Global All Series, FTSE All-World, FTSE World Index, FTSE Global Total Cap.

The index provider, however, cautioned that the assessment is based on SpaceX’s current S-1 filing and limited publicly available information, which could be reassessed based on subsequent filings.

SpaceX is aiming to list its shares as early as June 12, with a roadshow launch targeted for June 4 and the share sale expected as early as June 11, Reuters has reported.

(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)

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