The White House is coming out in favor of “open-source” artificial intelligence technology, arguing in a report Tuesday that there’s no need right now for restrictions on companies making key components of their powerful AI systems widely available. The report sought by President Joe Biden is the U.S. government’s first to delve into a tech industry debate between developers who advocate closing off the inner workings of their most advanced AI models to guard against misuse, and others who have lobbied for a more open approach they say favors innovation.
- July 30, 2024
- 76°
Nation & World Business
Wall Street is mixed more companies post quarterly earnings numbers and the Federal Reserve prepares to convene its latest monetary policy meeting and talk about the future of rates in the U.S. Futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.2% before the bell Tuesday, while futures for the technology-laden Nasdaq climbed 0.3%. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were unchanged. JetBlue rose 4.2% after it surprised investors by posting a profit in its most recent quarter. PayPal jumped 6.2% after it beat Wall Street forecasts. The Fed’s latest policy meeting starts Tuesday and wraps up the following day with few economists expecting a change to interest rates.
Mass market retailers in the U.S. are plying shoppers with offers for computers, clothes and other back-to-school essentials at affordable prices. To seal the deal, they are marketing “buy now, pay later” services as a way for customers to spread out the cost of going back to class in style. Companies and analysts say the strategies for securing sales are on display to coax consumers into spending during the retail world’s second-most important period behind the winter holidays. Even as inflation has come down, the costs of food, rent, healthcare and other necessities remain much higher than before the pandemic. And high interest rates are making it more expensive to carry credit card balances.
The Senate is expected to pass legislation designed to protect children from dangerous online content. It's pushing forward with what would be the first major effort by Congress in decades to hold tech companies more accountable for the harm they cause. A vote is set for Tuesday. The bill has bipartisan support and has been pushed by parents of children who died by suicide after online bullying. It would force companies to take reasonable steps to prevent harm on online platforms frequently used by minors, requiring them to ensure they generally default to the safest settings possible. Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut wrote the bill with Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee.
U.K.-based oil giant BP PLC said it will reward shareholders to the tune of $7 billion this year through the purchase of its own stock, even as it reported a near 30% decline in profits in the first half of 2024. In a statement Tuesday, BP said its underlying replacement cost profit — the industry standard that strips out one-off items — fell to $5.5 billion against last year’s $7.6 billion, largely on the back of lower earnings from its refining business. Critics say BP is not doing enough in the battle against climate change, prioritizing high-carbon activities, while relegating its green investments.
Air New Zealand has scrapped its 2030 carbon emissions reduction targets, citing lags in producing new planes, a lack of alternative fuel and “challenging” regulatory and policy settings. The move by the national carrier highlighted the hurdles vexing carriers and policymakers in confronting aviation emissions. The airline said on Tuesday it was still committed to a target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050, in line with the Paris Agreement. The carrier would establish new “near-term” emissions reduction targets that would “better reflect the challenges relating to aircraft and alternative jet fuel availability,” CEO Greg Foran said in a written statement.
China’s powerful Politburo has endorsed the ruling Communist Party's strategy for growing the economy by encouraging more consumer spending and weeding out unproductive companies to promote “survival of the fittest.” A statement issued Tuesday after the meeting of the 24 highest leaders of the party warned that coming months would be tough, with high risks. It promised unspecified measures to restore confidence in financial markets and boost government spending. Its calls to look after low- and middle-income groups reflect the party's pledges to build a stronger social safety net to enable families to spend more. But it provided no specifics on how it will do that.
The income gap between white and Black young adults was narrower for millennials than it was for Generation X. That’s according to a new study examining income mobility during the two generations that was released last week by researchers at Harvard University and the U.S. Census Bureau. It also found that the class chasm between white adults born to wealthy and poor parents widened between the generations. The study says that Black people born in 1978 to poor parents ended up earning almost $13,000 a year less than white people born to poor parents by age 27. That gap narrowed to more than $9,500 for those born in 1992.
Thousands of people have rallied in several towns in Serbia to protest a lithium excavation project the Balkan country’s government recently signed with the European Union. The protests were held simultaneously in the western town of Sabac and the central towns of Kraljevo, Arandjelovac, Ljig and Barajevo. The deal reached earlier this month could reduce Europe’s dependency on China and push Serbia, which has close ties to Russia and China, closer to the EU. The deal, however, has been criticized by environmentalists and opposition groups in Serbia who argue it would cause irreversible damage to the country’s nature while bringing little benefit to its citizens.
Artificial intelligence’s growing visibility in everyday life has made it a popular discussion topic but hasn’t yet elevated it to a top election concern for American voters. But this could be the first presidential election where the candidates are crafting competing visions on how to guide American leadership over the fast-developing technology.
Asian shares are mostly declining in cautious trading ahead of central bank meetings around the world. The Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan are holding monetary policy meetings this week. Benchmarks fell in Tuesday morning trading in Tokyo, Sydney, Seoul, Hong Kong and Shanghai. U.S. stock indexes drifted to a mixed finish Monday ahead of a week full of earnings reports from Wall Street’s most influential companies and a Federal Reserve meeting on interest rates. The S&P 500 rose 0.1%, coming off its first back-to-back weekly losses since April. The Dow Jones slipped 0.1%.
McDonald’s global same-stores fell for the first time in nearly four years in the second quarter as inflation-weary consumers skipped eating out or chose cheaper options. The company says it’s working on fixes, like meal deals and new menu items, but it expects same-store sales to be down for the next few quarters. The Chicago burger giant said on Monday that same-store sales fell 1% worldwide in the April-June period. McDonald's said nearly all of its U.S. franchisees have agreed to extend the company's $5 meal deal through August. The company's second-quarter revenue and profit also fell short of Wall Street's forecasts.
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