Business

This week’s Federal Reserve meeting is not much about the present but potentially very much about the future. If things go according to expectations, policymakers again will keep short-term interest rates on hold roughly from where they’ve been the past year. However, with a raft of cooperating inflation data under their belts in recent months, central bankers are widely expected to lay the groundwork for interest rate cuts to begin in September.

Small minority-owned businesses in Baltimore and elsewhere that struggle to access financing could get help through a new public-private federal partnership announced Monday in East Baltimore. Officials with the U.S. Department of Commerce finalized a national agreement with St. Louis-based nonprofit Urban Strategies Inc. to bring resources such as access to capital and technical support to minority-owned businesses in Baltimore and about two dozen other metro areas.

The Baltimore Business Journal has named Dr. Jay Perman, chancellor of the University System of Maryland, as its 2024 CEO of the Year — an honor recognizing his expansive career and significant impact on the region’s higher education and health care industries. Perman is joined by an elite group of business leaders — the BBJ’s Power 10 — the Greater Baltimore business community’s most powerful and effective leaders.

Constellation Energy, the Baltimore-based owner of the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant in Southern Maryland, says it’s in talks with large technology companies that want to build data centers next to the facility and bypass the electric transmission grid. Advocates for building data centers in the state believe they will be a boon for the state economy, but Constellation’s plans put it at odds with its former corporate sibling Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., whose parent Exelon Corp. spun off the energy producing company in 2022.

Every day, Whole Foods, as well as other markets and restaurants, sell lots of prepared meals, and fresh-baked goods. But not all of the food will sell by the end of the day. You can buy those leftovers for a bargain. Recently, a handful of Whole Foods Market stores in the D.C. area joined others nationwide that have partnered with the Too Good To Go app to sell end-of-day leftover prepared meals and baked goods at a steep discount.

Food from the restaurant of your choosing, delivered right to your door — at what cost? Third-party food delivery is becoming the norm for American consumers, as delivery apps like Grubhub, DoorDash and Uber Eats take hold in day-to-day dining. It’s also presenting customers and restaurants with an increasingly complicated equation of service fees, delivery costs and worker tips.

Subway started phasing out its $5 footlong sandwiches a decade ago. But these days, other fast-food chains have revived the $5 price point, hoping to win over customers who have cut back their spending.As many restaurant companies prepare to report their second-quarter results, investors are expecting to hear that diners are visiting their locations less frequently and that sales have turned sluggish, with few exceptions such as Chipotle.