SOFTWARE
Immuta to increase workforce
Boston software firm Immuta plans to grow its roughly 225-person workforce by 100 people this year to keep up with demand for its data management software, after nearly doubling its headcount in 2021. Chief executive Matthew Carroll described the firm’s hiring plans in an interview with the Globe, saying Boston is a good place to hire talent in part because of the thick concentration of universities and enterprise software firms here. The new jobs will be predominantly based in Boston but some will be spread among other Immuta locations in College Park, Md., and Columbus, Ohio, as well as London and Sydney, and some will be fully remote. Immuta’s software helps clients manage access to their databases and makes it easier to share this data. The company, based in a 16,000-square-foot office in Fort Point, raised $90 million from venture capital investors last year, bringing its total VC funding to nearly $170 million. New investors in that round included Greenspring Associates, March Capital, NGP Capital and Wipro Ventures. — JON CHESTO
MORTGAGES
Rates continue to rise
Average long-term mortgage rates rose again this week as the key 30-year loan rate vaulted over 4.5 percent and attained its highest level since the end of 2018. Against a backdrop of inflation at a four-decade high, the increases in home loan rates come a few weeks after the Federal Reserve raised by a quarter point its benchmark short-term interest rate — which it had kept near zero since the pandemic recession struck two years ago — to cool the economy. The central bank has signaled potentially up to seven additional rate hikes this year. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average rate on the 30-year loan this week rose to 4.67 percent from 4.42 percent last week. That’s a sharp contrast from last year’s record-low mortgage rates of around 3 percent. A year ago, the 30-year rate stood at 3.18 percent. The average rate on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, popular among those refinancing their homes, jumped to 3.83 percent from 3.63 percent last week. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
SOCIAL MEDIA
Downloads of Trump’s app cratering
The blank-check firm bringing Donald Trump’s media venture public is sinking with daily downloads for the former president’s social media app declining 95 percent since launching last month. Digital World Acquisition Corp., the special-purpose acquisition company merging with Trump Media & Technology Group, has shed 29 percent of its value since shares soared late in February when the Truth Social app launched on the Apple App Store. Downloads have slowly declined to 8,000 per day from an initial boom of 170,000, according to research firm Apptopia. The number of daily-active users on Apple devices over the past week was roughly 513,000, according to estimates from Apptopia. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
CURRENCY
Coin shortage hurting some businesses
Got a dime you can spare? Coins are in short supply — again. Retailers, laundromats, and other businesses that rely on coins want Americans to empty their piggy banks and look under couch cushions for extra change and “get coin moving.” A group of trade associations that represent individual businesses including banks, retail outlets, truck stops, grocery stores, and more is asking the Treasury Department for more help convincing Americans to get coins back in circulation. The consequences of the circulation slowdown hit people who don’t have an ability to pay for items electronically, they say. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEDIA
Caitlyn Jenner hired as a contributor at Fox
Fox News Channel says it has hired Caitlyn Jenner as a contributor, with her first appearance set for Thursday on Sean Hannity’s program. Jenner, the former Olympic decathlete, ran an unsuccessful…