It’s that time again for a group of central bankers to do nothing—and for it to mean everything. As expected, the Federal Reserve voted almost unanimously yesterday to hold interest rates steady between 3.5% and 3.75% for a second consecutive meeting.

An expected 2.7% inflation rate by the end of the year and the war in Iran dashed any hope for rate cuts this time around—but there’s still hope for the latter part of this year.

So, what’s new?

The Fed’s post-meeting statement explaining the group’s decision is almost an exact Ctrl + C of its note from its prior meeting in January, but with an added line stating that the “implications of developments in the Middle East for the US economy are uncertain.” That’s Fed speak for “global oil markets are not looking great, but it’s too early to tell.” The war adds a new dimension to the Fed’s efforts to balance concerns about inflation and the labor market.

The Fed’s crystal ball: The Fed’s “dot plot,” which anonymously shows committee members’ rate expectations during the year, remained unchanged from what they predicted in December. It’s looking more likely that there will just be one quarter-point cut this year and another in 2027.

“The forecast is that we will be making progress on inflation, not as much as we had hoped, but some progress on inflation,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said.

The rate’s not the only thing that could stay. Powell’s term as head of the Fed is set to expire in May. Trump—who has publicly bashed Powell for not aggressively cutting rates—named former Fed governor Kevin Warsh as his replacement in January. But GOP Senator Thom Tillis has vowed to block Warsh’s confirmation until the DOJ ends an investigation into Powell over the renovation of the Fed’s headquarters that critics have called an intimidation tactic to get rate cuts. Powell said yesterday he’d continue to act as chair until Warsh is confirmed and stay at the Fed until the probe ends.—MM

Oil prices spiked after attack on Iranian gas field. Global oil prices reached above $111 a barrel yesterday after Iran vowed to retaliate against an Israeli strike on a major gas field, saying that it now considered energy infrastructure across the Gulf as “legitimate and prime targets” and striking a major Qatar fuel hub. With Iran still choking off the Strait of Hormuz in response to the US and Israel’s attacks, the Trump administration is taking steps to keep oil prices in check, including lifting Jones Act shipping restrictions for 60 days. Vice President JD Vance and other lawmakers are meeting with oil executives today. Meanwhile, the war continues to intensify, with Israel saying it had killed Iran’s intelligence chief in its third assassination of an Iranian leader in two days.

  A new CEO stepped into the mouse ears. Disney’s Bob Iger era is officially over (for the second time) as Josh D’Amaro had his first day yesterday as king of Cinderella’s castle Disney’s CEO. D’Amaro, who most recently was the head of the company’s experiences unit, which includes theme parks and cruises, takes over as Disney looks to use its parks and streaming platform to magic up some growth for investors as its stock price has barely budged over the past decade (though it was down ~10% for the year leading up to yesterday).

It got heated for Trump’s DHS pick during a Senate hearing. Oklahoma Republican Markwayne Mullin faced his fellow senators yesterday as the nominee to replace Kristi Noem as the head of the Department of Homeland Security—and it wasn’t a very collegial meeting. Mullin presented himself as a lower-key leader than Noem who would keep the agency out of headlines. But senators questioned his views and temperament. Sen. Rand Paul, whom Mullin had previously called “a freaking snake,” accused Mullin of having “anger issues” and later told Semafor he’d vote against confirmation.—AR

After more than a year of tense negotiations, the WNBA and its players union verbally agreed yesterday to a new collective bargaining agreement that’s expected to achieve much of what the shirts shown above called for—including boosting some salaries beyond $1 million for the first time ever.

Details still need to be finalized and formally approved, but sources told ESPN that:

• Average salaries will quintuple to ~$600,000 (from $120,000), while minimum pay will surpass $300,000 (from ~$66,000).
• Salary caps (each team’s maximum cumulative pay) will start at $7 million, up from $1.5 million. Supermax salaries (extension contracts for elite players) will start at $1.4 million, up from ~$250,000.
• Players will share in nearly 20% of league revenue on average, up from 9.3% (a 50/50 split is customary in men’s sports, for context).

Under the new deal, WNBA players won’t feel “a sense of lack,” union president Nneka Ogwumike told reporters around 3am, following 100+ hours of negotiations over the previous eight days. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert called it “a fair win-win for all.”

Crunch time: More than 80% of WNBA players are currently free agents, meaning teams only have weeks to negotiate new contracts before the season starts on May 8.—ML

With the blessing of the late actor and his family’s estate, Val Kilmer will appear posthumously (sort of) in a new movie through generative AI, per Variety.

Six years ago, the star of Heat and Tombstone was cast in the independent film As Deep as the Grave. However, due to the Covid-19 shutdown and the progression of his throat cancer, Kilmer never shot a scene before he died in 2025, leading to the decision to use a digital version of Kilmer built through footage provided by his family:

• Director Coerte Voorhees said, “It’s what Val would have wanted.”
• It’s not Kilmer’s first AI performance. The actor worked with Sonantic to provide an AI version of his voice for his role in 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick, per Fortune, although sources told Variety that AI was not used in the film.

In recent years, deceased actors have been brought back to life in movies using CGI technology with consent (but not without controversy)—a list that includes Carrie Fisher (Rogue One), Ian Holm (Alien: Romulus), and Harold Ramis (Ghostbusters: Afterlife).

A preview of coming attractions: SAG-AFTRA’s contract with movie studios expires in June. Among the union’s demands for a new deal is a “Tilly tax,” named for the AI-Katy Perry knockoff Tilly Norwood, which would pay the guild a fee when AI actors are used.—DL

If you like your dogs with tiny legs and elongated torsos, you’re not alone: Dachshunds made it onto the list of the most popular dogs in the US for the first time in more than two decades this year. According to the American Kennel Club’s rankings, which are based on its registry—which doesn’t account for mixed-breed dogs (even designer doodle types):

• The French bulldog remains top dog, a spot the breed has occupied since 2003. But the smoosh-nosed pups’ moment at the apex of the dogpile may be ending: ~54,000 Frenchies were registered last year, which is half as many as the year they first topped the list.
• Longtime most-popular Labrador retrievers maintained the No. 2 slot, followed by golden retrievers, German shepherds, and the dachshund.

Whatever the breed (or species), Americans are spending big on their pets. Spending on pet care was expected to be $157 billion last year, according to the American Pet Products Association. Lucky for the pooches, that buys a lot of treats.—AR