The daily business briefing: June 1, 2016

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1. General Mills recalls 10 million pounds of flour
2. Consumer spending makes biggest one-month jump in 6 years
3. U.S. home prices rise
4. Judge releases documents describing aggressive Trump University sales tactics
5. Toyota in advanced talks to buy Google robotics maker

published 1 June 2016

1. General Mills recalls 10 million pounds of flour

General Mills on Tuesday said it was voluntarily recalling 10 million pounds of flour "due to an abundance of caution" over possible E. coli contamination. State and federal health officials say flour appears to be the common link among 38 illnesses in an ongoing E. coli outbreak across 20 states. General Mills said it was collaborating with health officials in the investigation. The recall affects Gold Medal flour, Wondra flour, and Signature Kitchens flour sold in Safeway, Albertsons, Jewel, Shaws, Vons, United, Randalls, and Acme stores.

U.S. consumer spending increased by 1 percent in April, its biggest monthly surge in more than six years, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. The jump beat the expectations of economists, who had forecast a 0.7 percent increase. One reason for the strong spending was a rise in automobile purchases. Other data showed that consumer confidence dropped a bit in May, but the rise in spending is considered likely to boost the case for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates soon.

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Home prices surged across the nation in March as the spring home-buying season increased demand while supply remains tight. The national S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index rose by 5.2 percent in the 12 months that ended in March, just under the 5.3 percent increase registered in February. "The economy is supporting the price increases with improving labor markets, falling unemployment rates, and extremely low mortgage rates," said David Blitzer, managing director at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

A federal judge on Tuesday released documents revealing the sales tactics used by Trump University, Donald Trump's now-defunct real estate and investment training venture. According to sales "playbooks," Trump salespeople were told to play to people's emotions and put class fees on their credit cards if they didn't have cash. "You don't sell products, benefits or solutions — you sell feelings," Trump University salespeople were counseled. Former students are suing, saying they did not get the expert training they expected.

Toyota is nearing a deal to buy Google's robot maker, Boston Dynamics. The two companies are still working on the details, and the deal could fall through. It is expected to be financed partly with $1 billion the Japanese automaker has budgeted over the next five years for the Toyota Research Institute, which it established in January to develop artificial intelligence. Toyota also is working on purchasing another robotics company started by a graduate of the University of Tokyo to get its fledgling robotics division running strong.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.