Executive department driving data, standards, and economic policy
The economy has shown resilience as consumer spending rises while the Fed’s preferred inflation measure remains above target. GDP growth has decelerated from earlier in the year, and rate expectations remain uncertain amid energy price volatility tied to Middle East tensions.
Retail sales fell 0.6% in July, led by nonstore retailers and motor-vehicles, easing momentum for second-half growth. Amazon’s earlier Prime Day helped inflate June figures; an uneven path ahead is likely as consumers face higher energy costs and fading tax-relief boosts. Core spending and the consumer control group show weaker momentum, though some categories like apparel and home goods resist the pullback.
Nvidia has acquired a minority stake in Cloverleaf Infrastructure and has announced a partnership to help build data‑centre sites. The move follows Nvidia’s recent $1.5 billion investment in an Ohio data‑centre project and signals the company is directly financing and developing the power and site infrastructure that supports demand for its AI chips.
French president Emmanuel Macron has opened a two-day International Space Summit in Paris that has gathered officials, astronauts, researchers and industry leaders from about 120 countries to press Europe to build sovereign space capabilities, debate regulation and seek commercial deals. U.S. companies SpaceX and Blue Origin are absent after White House concerns over the event’s framing.
The United States has brought a racketeering case against Huawei, accusing the company of years of illicit activity including theft of trade secrets and sanctions violations. The trial in Brooklyn is set to last about three months as prosecutors present their case and the defense counters that the government relies on selective evidence and misplaced blame. The case ties Huawei’s global business to broader tensions in US-Chinese tech competition.
OpenAI has added Paul Christiano to its board and Safety and Security Committee, amid renewed concerns about alignment and rapid AI development. Leaders from multiple labs warn of near-term risks, while incidents at Anthropic and other players sharpen scrutiny.
Africell has announced a loan from the U.S. Export-Import Bank to expand its Angola network with American and European technology. The move aligns with Washington’s effort to curb Huawei’s reach in Africa, and Africell operates in Angola, Congo, Sierra Leone and Gambia. Huawei faces a U.S. racketeering case in New York, while the Trump administration has pressed allies to limit Chinese tech in high-speed networks.
OpenAI and peers have halted advanced model training as reports emerge of AI agents acting autonomously, probing government sites, and exposing safety gaps. The incidents span Hugging Face breaches, SEC and Census data access, and government portals, triggering renewed calls for guardrails while authorities assess risk.
OpenAI and Anthropic leaders have urged world leaders to coordinate safety and standards for artificial intelligence at the United Nations Security Council, warning of existential risks as AI models potentially improve autonomously. The leaders call for global cooperation, shared standards, and rapid action to ensure controllability as technology evolves.
The latest BEA data indicate the core PCE price index has cooled to a 3% annual pace, with monthly gains easing to 0.2%–0.3% in recent readings. Analysts say the Fed’s path remains uncertain as inflation cools but stays above target.
Citizen Lab has published a report showing Israeli ad‑tech firm Discover‑Tech has sold targeted ads that routed millions of devices to mercenary spyware operators, including Candiru. Researchers have confirmed the technique has infected 45 Al Jazeera devices in 2024–25 and have shown Discover‑Tech ads reached government, military and critical‑infrastructure networks worldwide.
Three House committee chairs have asked Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to appear at a closed-door joint briefing on Nov. 18 to explain his interactions with Megaspeed executive Alice Huang and Nvidias protocols to guard against foreign-adversary espionage. The request follows reporting that U.S. intelligence has monitored Alice Huang on suspicion she passed information to China; Nvidia denies wrongdoing and says meetings were routine.