Gold shorts

Hedge funds accumulated their second-biggest bet against gold on record just as prices rallied the most in 15 months on surging demand for coins and jewelry and Goldman Sachs ended a recommendation to sell. The funds and other large speculators held 69,726 short contracts on April 23, within 0.6 percent of the record, federal data show. The net-long position dropped 25 percent to 46,168 futures and options.

China profits

China’s biggest banks posted robust profits in the first three months of 2013, even though the pace continued to slow from the runaway growth of recent years.

Steel curtain

US Steel locked out unionized employees at its Lake Erie works in Canada. The move, part of a contract dispute, affects nearly 1,000 workers at the Nanticoke, Ont., plant, which produced about 10 percent of the company’s raw steel output in 2012.

Air relief

Commercial air traffic began returning to normal across the US yesterday as the FAA ended the furloughs of air-traffic controllers that had led to thousands of flight delays and cancellations.