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Killing endangered animals while logging a forest or building a dam would not be considered illegal unless the animals were specifically targeted, under a new interpretation of the Endangered Species Act.
A directive sent to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees this week says imperiled animals or plants must be intentionally targeted for their killing to be considered illegal. That's a sharp turnaround from past practice at the wildlife service. Historically, it's held people liable even for accidentally harming protected species such as grizzly bears, manatees and spotted owls.
US stocks rally to their best day in 6 weeks
The U.S. stock market rallied to its best day in six weeks after oil prices fell and pressure from the bond market eased.
The S&P 500 jumped 1.1% Thursday for just its second rise in the last nine days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 1.7%. Stocks got a boost after the price for a barrel of Brent crude oil slid 1% to settle back below $105. That helped pull the yield on the 10-year Treasury down to 4.93%.
Huawei unveils new chip technologies
Chinese technology giant Huawei has launched new chip technologies as it challenges leading global companies such as Nvidia.
The releases announced Thursday highlight the narrowing gap between China and the U.S. in artificial intelligence. Huawei introduced its new Atlas 960 SuperPoD computing cluster, a faster successor to the model it launched only months ago.
US mortgage rates brush 7%, straining market
Mortgage rates climbed for the fourth week in a row, driving the average long-term U.S. home loan rate to just below 7%, its highest level in over 19 months.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate rose to 6.95% from 6.76% last week. One year ago, the average rate was 6.26%. The average rate on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages also rose.
OpenAI flags concerning new AI behavior
OpenAI has disclosed six reports on unexpected or concerning behavior in artificial-intelligence models.
The company is introducing a new framework to track and disclose instances of what it called "misalignment." This includes models acting without authorization or evading oversight. The announcement comes as U.S. AI leaders call for a slowdown in development over safety concerns. One case involved a research model inserting jailbreak-like instructions. Another saw an AI agent upload files to the internet without user permission.
Bank of England holds rates, ready to hike soon
The Bank of England is keeping the U.K.'s main interest rate unchanged at 3.75% even though inflation in the United Kingdom has risen to a five-month high as the fallout from the Iran war continues to ratchet up fuel prices.
Like other central banks, the inflation outlook is key for the Bank of England.
DoorDash, Uber Eats to offer Costco deliveries
Costco said Thursday it's partnering with DoorDash to offer delivery from its U.S. warehouse stores. DoorDash already offers Costco delivery in a few markets, including Australia, Sweden and Puerto Rico. But the nationwide partnership is a first for the delivery company, which said Costco was among the most-searched retailers not yet on its U.S. platform.
DoorDash said it will deliver groceries, household items and electronics from all of Costco's U.S. stores.
Delivery will only be available to Costco members.