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The private credit industry is coming under increasing strain, with investors withdrawing more than $11bn over the past two quarters, even as funds raised $12.4bn in new capital over the past five months, albeit at a slowing pace. Record redemption requests have prompted many funds to impose withdrawal limits, underscoring liquidity pressures and raising concerns about whether the sector can sustain growth and continue supporting borrowers’ refinancing needs. While some managers argue that inflows still offset outflows and that redemption caps are protecting investors and stabilizing funds, others warn that continued withdrawals and weaker fundraising could signal a more challenging environment ahead, particularly if investor sentiment deteriorates further.

 

Wall Street Journal

Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau will retire later this year after being criticized for failing to speak French in a condolence video following a fatal collision at LaGuardia Airport in New York that killed two pilots. Rousseau informed the airline that he will be stepping down by the end of the company's third quarter. He had faced calls to resign after delivering his condolences in English only. One of the pilots who died, Antoine Forest, was from French-speaking Quebec. Air Canada is headquartered in Montreal and the company's own policy requires employees to be able to communicate in both of Canada's official languages. In a post on X, Quebec Premier François Legault welcomed Air Canada's announcement, saying the carrier's next CEO should speak French as a "matter of respect for the employees, francophone customers, and all Quebecers."

 

CBC

CNN

New York Times

BBC News

Starbucks shareholders have overwhelmingly re-elected the full board, dismissing a campaign by labor-aligned investor groups that had urged votes against two directors over concerns about the company’s handling of labor relations. The challenge centered on the board’s decision to dissolve a dedicated committee overseeing workforce and union matters, with critics arguing this weakened oversight amid ongoing tensions with unionized baristas. Proxy advisers had also raised governance concerns, but Starbucks maintained that labor oversight now sits with the full board, which it said has the necessary expertise. The vote represents a clear endorsement of the company’s current governance approach and leadership under chief executive Brian Niccol, despite continuing scrutiny of its labor practices and recent efforts to restart negotiations with unions representing a minority of its U.S. workforce.

 

Reuters

Intercontinental Exchange, the parent of  the New York Stock Exchange, has invested $600m in prediction markets platform Polymarket. The funding comes as regulators and lawmakers scrutinize whether prediction markets are vulnerable to manipulation. 

 

CoinDesk

Reuters

China has restricted two co-founders of Manus from leaving the country as regulators review whether Meta’s $2bn acquisition of the AI agent company violates Beijing’s investment rules.

 

Financial Times

As loan portfolios face pressure, regulators, credit rating agencies and financial pundits are beginning to ask whether the private markets boom will lead to a more general crisis.

 

Financial Times

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued warnings to Mastercard, Visa, PayPal, and Stripe against denying customers access to financial services based on political or religious views, citing a recent executive order from President Trump targeting so-called “debanking.” FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson said that removing customers or restricting access in ways inconsistent with company policies could trigger investigations and enforcement under consumer protection laws, with particular scrutiny of allegations that some platforms have excluded users for ideological reasons. The move forms part of a broader push by the administration to address claims of discrimination within the financial system, though the companies have not publicly responded to the warnings.

 

Wall Street Journal

A Dutch court has ordered Elon ‌Musk's xAI and chatbot Grok to stop generating non-consensual nude pictures and child sexual abuse material. The company is ordered to pay damages of €100,000 per day for each day it fails to comply, up to a maximum of €10m. The Amsterdam judge said the generation and distribution of sexualized footage is banned “when the functionality to undress people partially or fully is being used without these people giving their explicit consent.” The judge also prohibited the generation of footage “that, according to Dutch law, qualifies as child sexual abuse material.” Reuters says the preliminary injunction could set a precedent in Europe; it is ​one of the first times a judge has averred on xAI's responsibility for making tools ​that can be used to easily create sexualized images. The case was brought by ​Offlimits, a Dutch nonprofit group that combats online sexual abuse.

 

Bloomberg

Euractiv

Politico

Reuters

A U.S. judge ​has temporarily blocked the Pentagon's blacklisting of Anthropic. U.S. District Judge Rita Lin sided with the AI company in an order finding that directives from President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth that all government agencies immediately stop using Anthropic tools could not be enforced for the time being. Lin wrote in her order that the government was attempting to "cripple Anthropic" and "chill public debate" because of the company's concerns over how its technology was being used by the Department of Defense. "This appears to be classic First Amendment retaliation," the judge observed.

 

Fortune

Politico

Reuters

BBC News

Major U.S. airports, including Baltimore, Houston, New York, New Orleans and Dallas, that saw extended disruptions after 50,000 ‌Transportation Security Administration (TSA) security officers went unpaid since mid-February say operations are returning to normal. President Donald Trump signed ​an emergency directive on Friday ordering TSA workers to get paid despite a failure of ⁠Congress to end the 45-day-old partial government shutdown. The Homeland Security Department said most TSA officers on Monday received a retroactive paycheck that included at least two full two-week ​paychecks and plans to provide workers with the remainder of a partial missed paycheck from the beginning of the shutdown as soon as possible.

 

Chicago Sun Times

OregonLive.com

Finland has shelved a plan to move its election platform to Amazon Web Services and will keep its electoral system running on existing local servers until after the April 2027 general election. “In the past just over a year, the international political situation has changed and the Justice Ministry decided to review the question on how to host the election platform,” the Justice Ministry explained. Bloomberg notes fraying European trust in the U.S.

 

Bloomberg

A Moody’s Ratings report highlights that AI is set to boost global productivity by around 1.5% annually, but with uneven benefits, as advanced economies could see gains closer to 2% compared to roughly 1% in emerging markets due to stronger infrastructure, skills, and digital access. The research warns that AI will reshape labor markets through both job augmentation and displacement, with up to one-third of workers in advanced economies and nearly a quarter in emerging markets at risk—particularly in mid-level clerical and administrative roles, where women are disproportionately represented. While AI could strengthen public finances through higher tax revenues and improved tax collection, it may also strain government budgets as displacement impacts employment and consumption. Crucially, outcomes will depend on policy responses, with countries that invest in reskilling, education, and labor market support likely to strengthen their economies and credit profiles, while those that fail to manage the transition risk long-term damage to growth, social cohesion, and fiscal stability.

 

FinTech Futures

OpenAI has shelved plans to release an erotic chatbot “indefinitely” amid concerns from employees and investors about the effect of sexualized AI content on society. “AI shouldn’t replace your friends or your family; you should have human connections,” commented one former senior employee, who said they left OpenAI in part due to the issue.

 

TechCrunch

Engadget

Financial Times

Reuters