With record levels of dry powder available for investment, find out what's in store for private markets in 2025 and beyond.

Listen to crafting capital in partnership with UBS at partners.wS.J.com slash UBS, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Elon Musk defends his government cost-cutting drive from the Oval Office.

Plus, with President Trump poised to impose reciprocal tariffs,

we'll look at what the measures might look like in which countries they'll target.

And our investing columnist explains why cash cow stocks are having a moment.

People are exasperated by how expensive the average stock is,

and so they're looking for some way to stay invested in the market,

but according to a formula that is likely to have better odds of success.

It's Wednesday, February 12th.

I'm Luke Vargas for the Wall Street Journal,

and here is the AM edition of What's News,

the top headlines and business stories moving your world today.

We are exclusively reporting that days after taking aim at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,

President Trump's advisors and allies are discussing ways to curtail and combine America's bank regulators without involving Congress.

According to people familiar with the matter, that includes the possibility of collapsing the federal deposit insurance corporation into the Treasury Department

or combining the FDIC's regulatory role with the Office of the Controller of the Currency under Treasury.

In any plan that advances, significant job cuts are likely at the bank regulators.

Bank executives have been saying for years that their industry suffers under too much regulation,

arguing that other industries are encroaching on their business

without facing the same regulatory hurdles. According to our reporting, execs from some of

America's largest commercial banks are set to meet with members of Congress, bank regulators,

...