URGENT

US puts in new 'circuit breaker' rules

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal regulators have put in place new rules aimed at preventing a repeat of last month's harrowing "flash crash" in the stock market.

Members of the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday approved the rules, which call for U.S. stock exchanges to briefly halt trading of some stocks that have big swings.

The exchanges will start putting the trading breaks into effect as early as Friday for six months.

The plan for the "circuit breakers" was worked out by the SEC and the major exchanges following the May 6 market plunge that saw the Dow Jones industrials lose nearly 1,000 points in less than a half-hour.