Business Update

As risk has escalated, central banks have bought more gold to stash in reserve. A widening Middle East war could add to the urgency. Source link

As central banks buy more gold, where to put all that heavy metal is an increasingly important question. Reserves must be secure and ready to trade in a crisis. Source link

European nations imposed temporary taxes in the 2022 energy shock when Russia invaded Ukraine, but whether they can effectively help households is up for debate. Source link

Casa, a company founded by former Uber executives, says it uses artificial intelligence and a stable of handymen to take care of members’ homes. Source link

Corn estimates were off by 4.5 million acres last year. A lack of survey responses, not job cuts, led to the miss, the Agriculture Department said. Source link

Gross domestic product expanded at a 2 percent annual rate in the first three months of the year, a period including first weeks of conflict in the Middle East. Source link

Jerome H. Powell will remain a governor at the Federal Reserve after his term as chair ends, in a bid to guard against a further incursion by the Trump administration on the central bank’s independence. Source link

Traders now think the Federal Reserve will keep steady interest rates, or perhaps even increase them, amid succession intrigue at the central bank. Source link

The Federal Communications Commission is clashing again with the media giant. It’s another warning about the costs of angering President Trump. Source link

Gwyneth Paltrow’s healthy-eating enterprise is just one of several recent Los Angeles exports to a rival city with its own ideas about what’s good. Source link