Saturday Headlines: Central Bank Increases Gold Holdings, Iran Says It Opened Fire in the Strait of Hormuz

China’s central bank raised its gold reserves by 830,000 ounces (about 25.82 tonnes) in October, extending its buying streak to 24 consecutive months, while the country’s foreign-exchange reserves stood at $3.4052 trillion at end-October, according to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. The continued accumulation signals persistent official demand for bullion as a reserve diversifier, a backdrop that matters for gold prices and for gauging the pace of central-bank buying globally. Separately, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it fired on U.S. forces in the Strait of Hormuz overnight, and Iran’s navy reported a tanker struck a mine and caught fire east of the waterway, keeping Gulf shipping risk in focus. In technology, DeepSeek’s website and API suffered partial outages on Saturday afternoon before repairs were implemented, while Apple disclosed robot-brain progress using Alibaba’s Qwen model on Unitree’s G1 platform, with an average 91% success rate on individual task tests. Berkshire Hathaway reported third-quarter operating profit of $12.705 billion, down 5.8% year on year, and net income attributable to shareholders of $22.112 billion.