The Federal Reserve voted once again to hold interest rates steady on Wednesday, while appearing increasingly uncertain about timing for any cuts this year.

While the Fed is still indicating there will be one rate cut in 2026 and another in 2027, Chair Jerome Powell noted that higher energy prices due to the war in Iran are likely to increase inflation—though it remains “too soon” to know the conflict’s full economic fallout.

Powell added that inflationary pressure could ease as the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on consumer prices fades. But he cautioned that if inflation remains unchanged, “then you won’t see a rate cut.”

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Global crude prices surged more than 6% early Thursday, reaching $116.13 per barrel, after Iran retaliated against an Israeli strike on its biggest gas field by attacking Qatar’s main energy hub, causing “extensive damage.” Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s defense ministry said it had intercepted a missile over the Red Sea port city of Yanbu, a potential sign that Iran could be expanding its attacks.

MORE: In a post on Truth Social, President Donald Trump claimed that the U.S. knew nothing about Israel’s attack on Iran, adding that Qatar was “in no way, shape, or form, involved with it.” The president also warned that if Iran were to continue its attacks, the U.S. is prepared to “blow up” the country’s South Pars gas field.

After months of new all-time highs, gold and silver prices hit a one-month low on Wednesday—bucking traditional wisdom that prices of precious metals spike in times of global conflict. Analysts from Sucden Financial noted that metals prices are trading “in negative correlation with oil,” suggesting that oil has been more attractive as a safe-haven bid.

Amazon plans to reduce the volume of packages it ships through the U.S. Postal Service by two-thirds, a move that comes as its current $6 billion contract with the struggling government agency is set to expire later this year. Per an Amazon spokesperson, USPS ended negotiations that had gone on for more than a year in December. The Postal Service recorded $9 billion in losses in 2025, and $9.5 billion the year before that.

While AI can write code, manage schedules and even trade stocks or cryptocurrency with minimal human involvement, it still faces hurdles when making purchases online. Now, Tempo—the payments-focused blockchain incubated by venture firm Paradigm and payments giant Stripe—is finally going live, and the companies are also introducing the Machine Payments Protocol, an open payment standard that enables AI agents to pay for products and services on their own.

On Christmas Eve, Nvidia announced a $20 billion deal to license Groq’s unique semiconductors—LPUs, or language processing units, optimized for speedy AI performance—and hire most of its staff. At the time, the deal seemed like a merger without the paperwork. But on Monday, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced a new product that will integrate Groq’s specialized LPU chips with his own company’s newest Vera Rubin generation of GPUs.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday suspended the Jones Act, a century-old maritime shipping law requiring U.S. vessels to transport cargo between U.S. ports. The 1920 law was passed to ensure that the U.S. would maintain its own crewed ships to support trade, as well as military needs during wartime, but Trump’s 60-day waiver will help alleviate fuel shipping disruptions while the Strait of Hormuz remains largely impassable.

Modern healthcare is still bogged down by what Sriram Somasundaram calls a “human compute problem,” where physicians spend hours digging through patient records to fulfill insurers’ prior authorization requirement. But his startup Latent Health uses AI to speed up this process. Latent announced $80 million in Series A funding on Wednesday, and is now valued at about $600 million.

Meet The Billionaire Boosters Behind March Madness 2026

Big-time college sports have never exactly been cheap, but over the past five years, as a series of court rulings and policy changes have redirected the spigot of money toward student-athletes through name, image and likeness marketing deals and a revenue-sharing system with universities, athletic departments have grown increasingly desperate for cash.

And when it comes to beefing up budgets, there’s nothing like a deep-pocketed patron.

In one analysis of 110 schools, donations rose 40% from 2019 to 2023, and nearly three-quarters of the schools set fundraising records after the new NIL rules went into effect. There is no shortage of affluent alumni for universities to tap, either. Among the 64 teams tipping off in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament on Thursday and Friday, several are backed by billionaire boosters.

This year's C-Suite 16 of mega-donors have a combined estimated net worth of $365 billion and include Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison (Michigan), Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones (Arkansas) and oil tycoon Jeffery Hildebrand (Texas and Texas A&M).

WHY IT MATTERS “With NIL deals fueling an arms race in college sports, some programs are upgrading their premium seating options to drive up ticket prices, or signing sponsor agreements that put corporate logos directly on the field, or exploring deals with private equity firms,” says assistant managing editor Brett Knight. “The simplest and quickest path to cash, however, remains an affluent alum. Look no further than investing billionaire David Booth, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Kansas—and recently pledged roughly $300 million to the Jayhawks.”

MORE The World’s Most Profitable Sports Teams 2026

Despite higher fares due to the war in Iran, U.S. airline executives say that demand for tickets was strong through the start of March. Still, analysts say that could change the longer the conflict continues:

16%: How much the average ticket sale transaction grew for Delta Air Lines for the week ending March 8 compared to the previous week

$3.93: The price of jet fuel on Tuesday, up 57% since the U.S. and Israel began airstrikes on Iran

‘A bit immune to what goes on with geopolitical events’: How Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian described the wealthiest travelers, as airlines could consider raising prices on premium and business classes

One of the more underreported headlines at the moment is the massive investment going into U.S. data centers to support the AI boom—with the market growing rapidly, there’s room for smart investors to take advantage. We’ve prepared this guide on top data center providers, trends to consider, and the types of players that retail investors should look into.

An upcoming independent film titled As Deep As The Grave will feature a recently deceased actor, thanks to the power of generative AI. Which Hollywood star will appear in the film despite not shooting a single scene?

Thanks for reading! This edition of Forbes Daily was edited by Sarah Whitmire.

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