By TERESA CEROJANO and MATT OTT, Associated Press

Wall Street surged on Thursday after Nvidia reported stronger than expected quarterly earnings, tempering worries that AI-related stocks may have become overvalued.

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Futures for the S&P 500 were up 1.1% before the opening bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.5%. Futures for the Nasdaq shot 1.6% higher.

The market’s focus remained on Nvidia as Wall Street’s most influential stock jumped 5.1% overnight after the chipmaker reported third-quarter earnings of $31.9 billion. That’s a 65% increase over last year and more than analysts were expecting.

The Santa Clara, California company also forecast revenue for the current quarter covering November-January will come in at about $65 billion, nearly $3 billion above analysts’ projections, an indication that demand for its AI chips remains feverish.

Nvidia is the most valuable company by market capitalization on Wall Street, having briefly topped $5 trillion in value. That means its movements have more of an effect on the S&P 500 than any other stock, and it can single-handedly steer the index’s direction some days.

By continuing to deliver big profits for investors, Nvidia has mostly quieted recent criticism that its shares shot too high, too fast.

Nvidia has become a bellwether for the broader frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology, because other companies are using its chips to ramp up their AI efforts.

Walmart also reported its latest quarterly results Thursday. The Arkansas retailer delivered another standout quarter, posting strong sales and profits that blew past Wall Street expectations as it continues to lure cash-strapped Americans who have grown increasingly anxious about the economy and prices.

With other retailers dialing back projections, the nation’s largest retailer raised its financial outlook Thursday after its strong third quarter, setting itself up for a strong holiday shopping season.

Traders also made their final moves ahead of a September jobs report coming from the U.S. government on Thursday. The labor market data, usually released during the first week of every month, was delayed due to the six-week federal government shutdown.

The Labor Department said Wednesday that it will not be releasing a full jobs report for October because the 43-day shutdown meant it couldn’t calculate the unemployment rate and some other key numbers.

The job market has been slowing enough this year that the Fed has already cut its main interest rate twice. Lower rates can give a boost to the economy and to prices for investments, and the expectation on Wall Street had been for more cuts, including at the Fed’s next meeting in December.

But some Fed officials are hinting that they should pause next month, in part because inflation has stubbornly remained above the Fed’s 2% target. Lower interest rates can worsen inflation.

At midday in Europe, Germany’s DAX rose 0.8%, while Britain’s FTSE 100 and the CAC 40 in Paris each added 0.6%.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index initially surged as much as 4.2% before giving up some early gains. It closed nearly 2.7% higher at 49,823.94 as technology stocks rallied, with investor sentiment boosted by Nvidia’s strong quarterly results after trading closed in the U.S.

South Korea’s Kospi added 1.9% to 4,004.85, with gains led by technology and energy stocks. Investors were encouraged by Nvidia’s earnings and reports that the U.S. may delay planned semiconductor tariffs.

Samsung Electronics gained 4.2%, while SK Hynix added 1.6%.

Chinese markets ended mixed as reports said the government might be planning more measures to try to revive the ailing property sector.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was barely changed at 25,835.57, while the Shanghai Composite index lost 0.4% to 3,931.05 after China’s central bank kept its one- and five-year loan prime rates unchanged at 3% and 3.5%, respectively.

Taiwan’s Taiex closed 3.2% higher while India’s BSE Sensex added nearly 0.7%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.2% to 8,552.70, also led by gains for technology stocks.

In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude oil gained 59 cents, or 1%, to $59.61 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 62 cents to $64.13 per barrel.

The U.S. dollar climbed to 157.66 Japanese yen from 157.06 yen. It has been trading at nearly the highest level this year on expectations that the government will delay efforts to rein in Japan’s national debt as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi raises spending to help spur the economy.

The euro fell to $1.1515 from $1.1538.

By BARBARA ORTUTAY and MATT O’BRIEN, Associated Press Technology Writers

They’re cute, even cuddly, and promise learning and companionship — but artificial intelligence toys are not safe for kids, according to children’s and consumer advocacy groups urging parents not to buy them during the holiday season.

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These toys, marketed to kids as young as 2 years old, are generally powered by AI models that have already been shown to harm children and teenagers, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, according to an advisory published Thursday by the children’s advocacy group Fairplay and signed by more than 150 organizations and individual experts such as child psychiatrists and educators.

“The serious harms that AI chatbots have inflicted on children are well-documented, including fostering obsessive use, having explicit sexual conversations, and encouraging unsafe behaviors, violence against others, and self-harm,” Fairplay said.

AI toys, made by companies such as Curio Interactive and Keyi Technologies, are often marketed as educational, but Fairplay says they can displace important creative and learning activities. They promise friendship but also disrupt children’s relationships and resilience, the group said.

“What’s different about young children is that their brains are being wired for the first time and developmentally it is natural for them to be trustful, for them to seek relationships with kind and friendly characters,” said Rachel Franz, director of Fairplay’s Young Children Thrive Offline Program. Because of this, she added, the amount of trust young children are putting in these toys can exacerbate the harms seen with older children.

Fairplay, a 25-year-old organization formerly known as the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, has been warning about AI toys for more than 10 years. They just weren’t as advanced as they are today. A decade ago, during an emerging fad of internet-connected toys and AI speech recognition, the group helped lead a backlash against Mattel’s talking Hello Barbie doll that it said was recording and analyzing children’s conversations.

“Everything has been released with no regulation and no research, so it gives us extra pause when all of a sudden we see more and more manufacturers, including Mattel, who recently partnered with OpenAI, potentially putting out these products,” Franz said.

It’s the second big seasonal warning against AI toys since consumer advocates at U.S. PIRG last week called out the trend in its annual “ Trouble in Toyland ” report that typically looks at a range of product hazards, such as high-powered magnets and button-sized batteries that young children can swallow. This year, the organization tested four toys that use AI chatbots.

“We found some of these toys will talk in-depth about sexually explicit topics, will offer advice on where a child can find matches or knives, act dismayed when you say you have to leave, and have limited or no parental controls,” the report said.

Dr. Dana Suskind, a pediatric surgeon and social scientist who studies early brain development, said young children don’t have the conceptual tools to understand what an AI companion is. While kids have always bonded with toys through imaginative play, when they do this they use their imagination to create both sides of a pretend conversation, “practicing creativity, language, and problem-solving,” she said.

“An AI toy collapses that work. It answers instantly, smoothly, and often better than a human would. We don’t yet know the developmental consequences of outsourcing that imaginative labor to an artificial agent—but it’s very plausible that it undercuts the kind of creativity and executive function that traditional pretend play builds,” Suskind said.

California-based Curio Interactive makes stuffed toys, like Gabbo and rocket-shaped Grok, that have been promoted by the pop singer Grimes.

Curio said it has “meticulously designed” guardrails to protect children and the company encourages parents to “monitor conversations, track insights, and choose the controls that work best for their family.”

“After reviewing the U.S. PIRG Education Fund’s findings, we are actively working with our team to address any concerns, while continuously overseeing content and interactions to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for children.”

Another company, Miko, said it uses its own conversational AI model rather than relying on general large language model systems such as ChatGPT in order to make its product — an interactive AI robot — safe for children.

“We are always expanding our internal testing, strengthening our filters, and introducing new capabilities that detect and block sensitive or unexpected topics,” said CEO Sneh Vaswani. “These new features complement our existing controls that allow parents and caregivers to identify specific topics they’d like to restrict from conversation. We will continue to invest in setting the highest standards for safe, secure and responsible AI integration for Miko products.”

Miko’s products are sold by major retailers such as Walmart and Costco and have been promoted by the families of social media “kidfluencers” whose YouTube videos have millions of views. On its website, it markets its robots as “Artificial Intelligence. Genuine friendship.”

Ritvik Sharma, the company’s senior vice president of growth, said Miko actually “encourages kids to interact more with their friends, to interact more with the peers, with the family members etc. It’s not made for them to feel attached to the device only.”

Still, Suskind and children’s advocates say analog toys are a better bet for the holidays.

“Kids need lots of real human interaction. Play should support that, not take its place. The biggest thing to consider isn’t only what the toy does; it’s what it replaces. A simple block set or a teddy bear that doesn’t talk back forces a child to invent stories, experiment, and work through problems. AI toys often do that thinking for them,” she said. “Here’s the brutal irony: when parents ask me how to prepare their child for an AI world, unlimited AI access is actually the worst preparation possible.”

By JULIA FRANKEL, Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel may have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity when it forcibly expelled 32,000 Palestinians from three West Bank refugee camps earlier this year during a military operation in the area, a human rights group said Thursday.

FILE -Residents of the West Bank refugee camp of Nur Shams, near Tulkarem, evacuate their homes as the Israeli military continues its operation in the area on Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed, File)

Human Rights Watch said in a report that top Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz should be investigated for war crimes and prosecuted if found responsible.

While much of the world focused on the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Israel’s military raided refugee camps in the north of the West Bank and expelled tens of thousands of Palestinians from their homes in January and February. It amounted to the largest-ever displacement in the territory since Israel captured it in the 1967 Mideast war.

Israel has said troops would stay in some camps for a year. It is not clear when, if ever, Palestinians will be able to return. In the meantime, thousands of Palestinians are living with relatives or cramming into rental apartments, while the impoverished seek refuge in public buildings.

Israel, which called the raids “Operation Iron Wall,” said they were needed to stamp out militancy as violence by all sides surged after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack ignited the war in Gaza. But months later, thousands of Palestinians remain unable to access their homes. Others have lost their homes entirely after they were bulldozed by Israeli forces.

The Israeli military said Thursday that the raids were ongoing because it took time to root out militancy, adding that troops had dismantled explosive labs and exchanged fire with militants in the course of operations. It claimed, without providing evidence, that militant attacks had decreased by 70% in the West Bank since the raids started.

It said the military was acting to “reshape and stabilize” the area.

“An inseparable part of this effort is the opening of new access routes inside the camps, which requires the demolition of rows of buildings,” said the statement.

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In its report, Human Rights Watch said that Israeli authorities didn’t offer any explanation as to why they had to expel the camps’ entire population to achieve their military objective and did not provide reasons why they haven’t allowed the return of Palestinians. The report said also that the military fired upon residents attempting to reenter the camps, and that it has not provided shelter or humanitarian assistance to those still displaced.

“With global attention focused on Gaza, Israeli forces have carried out war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank that should be investigated and prosecuted,” said Nadia Hardman, senior refugee and migrant rights researcher at Human Rights Watch.

The group said that during the operation, troops were “storming homes, ransacking properties, interrogating residents” before displacing them from their homes.

The group said it based the report on interviews with 31 Palestinians displaced from Tulkarem, Nur Shams and Jenin refugee camps.

The camps resemble dense, urban slums and are home to millions of refugees and their descendants. They date back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation. Some 700,000 Palestinians — a majority of the prewar population — fled or were driven out of what is now Israel during that conflict and were not allowed to return, an exodus the Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, or “catastrophe.”

Human Rights Watch said it had also analyzed satellite imagery of the camps, finding that more than 850 homes and buildings had been destroyed or heavily damaged. The Israeli military has told the AP that some of the damage was to strike militant infrastructure, while some was to clear space for easier troop movement around the camps.

The nonprofit group said Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, the top commander for the West Bank and Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the Israeli military chief, should be investigated as well and called for sanctions against top Israeli officials.

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI, Associated Press

About half of U.S. adults believe democracy is functioning “very” or “moderately” poorly in the United States, while only around one-quarter think it’s doing “very” or “moderately” well, according to a new poll, marking a sharp decline from several decades ago when majorities thought democracy was generally working the way it should.

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The Kettering Foundation-Gallup survey found that about two-thirds of Americans “strongly agree” or “agree” that democracy is the best form of government. Very few disagree, with about one-third saying they don’t have an opinion. But alongside the widespread disappointment in how democracy is working, few believe the country’s leaders are committed to democratic governance or think government decisions reflect the will of the people.

Few U.S. adults doubt their fellow Americans’ commitment to strong democracy, according to the poll, but they’re less certain about their political leadership. More than 4 in 10 Americans do not believe their leaders are committed to having a strong democracy, while about 3 in 10 say they’re not sure.

Meanwhile, only about one-quarter believe government decisions reflect what a majority of people want done or attempt to serve citizens’ best interests.

The poll is part of a project initiated by Gallup and the Charles F. Kettering Foundation that studies how Americans experience democracy. The report released Thursday is based on a survey of more than 20,000 U.S. adults conducted in July and August. It comes at a tumultuous time in American politics, marked by extreme polarization, rapid social change and deep economic anxiety, and as the country prepares to commemorate next year’s 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Dissatisfaction with democracy’s performance across party lines

The sense that democracy is not working is more widespread among Democrats, whose party is out of power. That includes Doug Perry, a 55-year-old 3D modeler in Sarasota, Florida.

“I think it is falling apart,” Perry said, blaming President Donald Trump and citing the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol to overturn Trump’s loss in the 2020 election as evidence that many Americans no longer believe in democracy.

FILE – Demonstrators carry a signed banner representing the U.S. Constitution as they march to the national Mall during a No Kings protest in Washington, Oct. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

Only those who identify as “strong” Republicans are substantially more likely than Democrats and independents to say democracy is performing “very” or “moderately” well. Bobbi Black, a Republican who is a retired nurse in suburban Des Moines, Iowa, is not one of them.

She cited the recent government shutdown, the longest on record, and Congress’ general inability to agree to bipartisan deals as bad signs for democracy. She also worries about how former President Joe Biden’s age affected him while in office and how he could have been elected without people aware of that risk.

“Democracy let us down, because he should have never been promoted to that position,” Black said.

Biden won the Democratic presidential primary in 2020, defeating a diverse field of rivals, and beat Trump in his reelection bid in both the popular vote and Electoral College.

Low confidence in Congress and the criminal justice system

A separate Gallup poll conducted in 2023 found that only about 3 in 10 U.S. adults were “satisfied” with the way democracy was working, compared to about 6 in 10 who expressed satisfaction with how it was functioning in 1984, when Gallup began to ask the question in its surveys.

FILE – A person holds an American flag upside-down during a “No Kings” protest Oct. 18, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

Gallup’s findings are in line with other surveys that have found concerns about democracy’s functioning in both the United States and across the globe, even as a 2024 Pew survey found that people in other democratic countries prefer it to alternate forms of government.

The Gallup survey found that in the U.S., people who are struggling economically are especially likely to have a sour view of democracy’s performance.

But the overall disappointment with democracy also extends to the country’s institutions.

No more than one-third of Americans say that any of the country’s systems, branches of government or democratic ideals are performing “very” or “moderately” well. Only about 2 in 10 believe that Congress, the criminal justice system, the division of power between federal, state and local governments, and the division of power among branches of government are doing well. A similar share say this about the idea that all people are treated equally under the law.

“Most institutions are holding on by a thread,” said Antonio Gonzalez, 39, of Delray Beach, Florida, who works in marketing. “We have a quickly changing world, but most of these institutions are run by octogenarians.”

The poll also found Americans feeling alienated from their elected officials.

Many Americans aren’t confident that the decisions of the government reflect the will of the people or are sensitive to the interests of people like them. That’s particularly true of older people, LGBT adults or those who are struggling to get by financially.

Mixed views about the ease of voting

One bright spot is that most Americans feel the way elections are administered is going at least “okay.”

Only about 3 in 10 believe it is reasonable to assume that those who oversee elections have acted improperly when election outcomes are surprising, while about one-third neither agree nor disagree and about one-third don’t think this is true.

Only about 1 in 10 think voting procedures and laws do not make it easy for people like them to vote. Black people, young adults and those struggling economically are less likely to say voting is easy for people like them.

Jesse Sutton, a 54-year-old who works in school finance in Detroit, said he finds voting easy in Michigan but worries about how some Republican-run states have tightened their rules on how to cast ballots.

“It varies by state,” the Democrat, who is Black, said of the ability to participate in democracy.

The Kettering Foundation-Gallup survey of 20,338 U.S. adults was conducted in English between July 7 and Aug. 25. The probability-based Gallup Panel recruited 9,157 respondents for the study and supplemented them with 11,181 respondents from a third-party sample provider. The margin of error for the full sample was 0.9%.