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Why do shoppers love it?

Under humid conditions, this dehumidifier can collect up to one liter of water per day while using no more than one kilowatt-hour of electricity, making it a great energy-saving option that saves you even more money in the long run. At just under 6 pounds, the portable design also makes it easy to move wherever moisture becomes a problem. Measuring 8.3 inches long and 5.5 inches wide, the dehumidifier features a built-in rear handle that makes it convenient to carry, and the 800-milliliter water tank is paired with an automatic shut-off function that stops operation when the tank is full or not properly positioned, offering ease of mind while in use so you don't have to worry about water overflowing, making it convenient to use even while you're not home.

The unit offers two operating modes to suit different situations: high-speed mode and night mode. The high-speed mode focuses on reducing humidity more quickly, while the night mode operates at less than 30 decibels for lower noise pollution while sleeping. It also features a separate lighting control that activates seven color-changing ambient lights, including purple, blue, green, and more, that can add a fun touch to the room or act as a nightlight overnight. The lights also change to red when the 95-ounce tank is full, alerting you that it needs to be changed out.

The pros and cons of this deal

Pros

Auto safety features: It includes an auto shut-off when it's full, and when the tank is placed incorrectly, to prevent overflowing.
Portability: The lightweight design and handle on the back make it easy to move around the house.

Cons

Colors: These are only available in either black or white, but feature colorful LED lights once plugged in.
Might require more emptying: If you live in a large and very humid home, the tank may need more emptying than a larger tank.

"This dehumidifier works great," one shopper said. "It's quiet, easy to use, it's very pretty, and boy does it get the moisture out. I'm really impressed. Emptying the canister is super easy, too. I definitely recommend it."

Another reviewer said, "It works great, it's so quiet you can't hear it. I love the different colors, and I only have to empty it every six days."

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By combining efficient moisture control, lightweight portability, automatic safety features, dual operating modes, and optional ambient lighting, the Egeh Small Home Dehumidifier is built to fit naturally into a variety of living spaces for an affordable price. Shoppers can save 77% on this humidifier at Walmart.

'Big Short' Michael Burry takes aim at surging AI stock

Moz Farooque — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 23:03:00 GMT

Betting against AI still looks like a dangerous game.

In particular, one fast-growing AI neocloud stock has surged more than 200% in 2026, as investors continue to pour money into companies facilitating the AI boom.

Demand looked relentless, and the market’s been pricing in plenty more growth, even though investors appear to be in "show-me" mode with regard to AI.

"Big Short" Michael Burry, though, is betting something has gone wrong.

He continues to lean further against AI, adding to his bearish positions involving Micron (MU), Oracle (ORCL), and the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX), while increasing another short against one of AI’s hottest stocks.

Why is Michael Burry shorting Nebius after earnings?

Nebius' (NBIS) earnings revealed a booming business, but Burry thinks there’s trouble beneath the headline growth.

“Nebius is what the top of a boom looks like,” Burry wrote in a Substack post after adding to his short position at $247.

For perspective, Nebius has been a tremendous wealth compounder over the past year and essentially functions as a neocloud.

More Manager Buy/Sells:

It’s basically an AI-focused cloud provider building potent data centers packed with pricey GPUs, renting the compute power to businesses training and running AI models.

Burry’s criticism centers on the pricing of Nebius’ compute contracts. Its management said it could potentially sell all of its 2027 capacity through one- to three-year agreements but is deliberately keeping some supply available for shorter-term customers.

Those short-duration deals could command nearly $40 million to $50 million per megawatt, sometimes more. Conversely, midterm contracts are priced around $20 million to $25 million per megawatt.

That’s the part Burry finds unusual.

Typically, longer commitments provide a supplier with stronger visibility and could justify more attractive economics. Here, customers are looking to pay nearly twice as much for immediate access to compute.

One way to look at it is from a scarcity lens, but Burry feels customers are attaching dramatically more value to AI capacity today than to the same capacity further out. In the commodities space, that relationship is often characterized as "backwardation."

However, for AI infrastructure, Burry’s question is essentially: What is the market expecting to lose value so quickly?

“Power does not depreciate,” he wrote.

Moreover, Burry questioned Nebius on extending the depreciation life of its servers from four years to five. He wonders why Nebius is assuming its hardware will remain economically useful longer, even as contract pricing is expected to imply a sharp drop in the value of future compute.

Nevertheless, Burry’s short is essentially a bet that investors expect today’s AI boom to last a lot longer than the underlying assets could realistically support.

Michael Burry increased his Nebius short after questioning the company’s AI economics.

What stood out in Nebius' earnings?

Revenue exploded 454% year over year to $582.3 million, while core Nebius AI revenue jumped 514% to $575 million, indicating that the company’s growth is now spearheaded by AI infrastructure demand.
Annualized run-rate revenue reached $3 billion, up 598% from a year earlier and 56% from March, an unusually steep acceleration in compute demand.
Profitability improved dramatically. Adjusted EBITDA swung to $236 million from a $21 million loss, while the margin climbed to 41%. Nebius AI itself generated a remarkably robust 50% EBITDA margin.
Operating cash flow surged to $2.3 billion, giving Nebius stronger internally generated liquidity as it looks to scale up quickly.
Nevertheless, the growth is highly capital-intensive, with quarterly capex of roughly $5.7 billion, nearly 10 times reported revenue.
Source: Nebius Q2 Investor Relations Update

How has Nebius stock performed?

Nebius has clearly been one of the biggest winners of the AI infrastructure trade.

According to Seeking Alpha data, the stock surged almost 210% year to date and 244% over the past year, punishing the S&P 500’s respective 13.2% and 20.2% gains. Even over six months, Nebius is up nearly 189%.

Consequently, that tremendous momentum has driven its valuation expectations sky-high.

Nebius stock trades at 73.1 times trailing sales and 20.5 times forward sales, compared to the sector median of just 3.7 and 3.4 times, according to Seeking Alpha.

Perhaps the more interesting number is the forward price-to-cash-flow of 8.7 times (below the sector’s 20.7 times), which suggests investors are pricing in a dramatic cash-flow ramp.

What makes Michael Burry’s investing strategy different?

Michael Burry’s contrarian investing style often involves betting against red-hot stocks.

His approach involves working backward, identifying gaps between investor euphoria and what the company's economics can actually support.

AI is the obvious example at this point.

In Scion Asset Management’s final reported 13F, Burry held put options tied to 5 million Palantir shares and 1 million Nvidia shares. These shares attracted an underlying value of nearly $912 million and $187 million, respectively; those figures weren’t the amounts Burry actually spent on the options.

That’s classic Burry, where he isn’t afraid of constructing asymmetric trades. Options allow him to strongly express his bearish view while defining the capital committed to the trade.

Of late, that same skepticism has deepened into the AI infrastructure boom.

Business Insider reports that Burry disclosed he was shorting Oracle at roughly $145, citing concerns about the tech giant’s ballooning debt load, long-term commitments, and off-balance-sheet obligations.

While the bulls are still enamored with the flashy headline figures, Burry is asking what those lofty sales cost to produce, how much capex is consistently reinvested, and who ultimately bears the risk.

“The fish have gotten very fat, very large, and easy to shoot,” Burry wrote while discussing AI companies and their liabilities.

And on Aug. 12, Burry recommended rewatching "The Smartest Guys in the Room," the documentary about Enron, writing that he feels "history is repeating.”

However, he isn’t automatically bearish when everyone else is bullish.

Perhaps the best example is his June purchase of MercadoLibre stock at nearly $1,630, after it had dropped 39% from its June 2025 high, underscoring his disciplined buying approach.

He’s less interested in catching falling knives than in whether the market enthusiasm has moved too far away from the underlying economics.

Another brewery and distillery brand closes all its taprooms

Fernanda Tronco — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 22:53:42 GMT

A once-fast-growing beverage brand is making a major retreat from the physical spaces that helped build its identity and exiting an entire part of its business.

After years of expansion, the company is closing its final brick-and-mortar locations and has already shut down the facility where it once produced its beverages. The moves mark a significant shift for a brand that built its reputation on an in-house manufacturing approach and a growing physical presence.

Founded in 2018 in San Diego, California, JuneShine started as a homemade hard kombucha brand before expanding into canned cocktails.

JuneShine is closing its last tasting rooms

JuneShine built its brand on the concept of "honest alcohol for a healthier planet," targeting health-conscious consumers by offering clean, environmentally sustainable ingredients.

The company will close its two final company-owned tasting rooms on Aug. 28, ending the company's brick-and-mortar operations.

The affected locations include:

JuneShine Scripps Ranch: 10051 Old Grove Road, San Diego, California
JuneShineSanta Monica: 2914 Main Street, Santa Monica, California

"This was certainly not a decision that came easy, but the right one for what's next," JuneShine wrote in an Instagram post.

The company has not shared plans to open another physical location. However, JuneShine said its products will remain available online and through retailers, including Walmart, Target, Whole Foods Market, and Total Wine & More, according to its website.

"Rest assured, JuneShine isn't going anywhere. You will still find us on shelves, at your favorite watering holes, and out in the real world," the company added.

The closures, therefore, mark a change in how JuneShine operates, rather than an end to the brand itself.

JuneShine has already reduced its physical footprint

The decision to close the final tasting rooms follows several changes to JuneShine's operations over the past several years.

In 2019, JuneShine acquired the former 30,000-square-foot Ballast Point brewery in Scripps Ranch, turning it into a flagship brewery and taproom. The company invested $24 million in the project.

In 2020, JuneShine confirmed plans to relocate its San Diego tasting room to a new 2,000-square-foot space in North Park at The Jackson on 30th Street. The tasting room ultimately did not open.

Two years later, JuneShine expanded beyond California by opening a taproom in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood. That location closed in 2024.

The company's manufacturing footprint then underwent a more significant change in March 2026, when JuneShine ceased in-house brewing, shut down its brewery, listed the facility for sale, and eliminated 24 jobs.

The move shifted production to third-party manufacturers as JuneShine sought to improve efficiency and profitability and focus more heavily on product development and brand expansion, SanDiegoVille reported.

Now, with its final two tasting rooms scheduled to close, JuneShine will no longer operate company-owned physical locations.

JuneShine closes its final two physical locations.

Illustration by Kira Hofmann/Photothek via Getty Images

Why JuneShine is moving away from physical locations

JuneShine has not publicly provided a detailed explanation for why it is closing its final tasting rooms. However, the move comes after a broader restructuring of its physical operations.

The company has already moved away from owning and operating its own brewery, instead relying on third-party manufacturers to produce its beverages. Closing its tasting rooms could further reduce the fixed costs and operational responsibilities associated with maintaining physical facilities.

Here's some of my previous coverage of closures:

For smaller beverage companies, owning production facilities can require significant investments in equipment, labor, maintenance, and real estate. Outsourcing some or all production can allow a business to shift those responsibilities to specialized manufacturers, although the financial impact can vary depending on a company's scale and manufacturing arrangements.

Operating a taproom or brewery can also come with significant real estate and build-out costs. Specialized equipment and building requirements can add to the expense of opening and operating these businesses, according to Wooden Hill Brewing Company.

JuneShine's recent moves suggest the company is placing greater emphasis on its beverage products and retail distribution rather than maintaining company-owned facilities.

That shift could give JuneShine greater flexibility to concentrate its resources on product development, distribution, and brand expansion while relying on outside partners for manufacturing and retail distribution.

For consumers, however, the change means JuneShine's remaining tasting rooms will soon disappear. The brand itself will continue through its online store, retail partners, and other locations where its beverages are sold.

Resort destination mall and hotel file Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Kirk O’Neil — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 22:53:39 GMT

Consumers’ flight from brick-and-mortar stores in malls became a major problem for retailers as internet sales and e-commerce began taking business away from physical stores in the 1990s.

Malls were hit even harder from the shutdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic, with retail slowly recovering over the last six years.

Boatworks at Tahoe LLC, a Lake Tahoe shopping mall and hotel owner, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to avoid a foreclosure auction that was scheduled for Aug. 12.

The owner of Boatworks Mall and Inn at the Boatworks in Tahoe City, Calif., files for bankruptcy.

PeopleImages / Getty Images

Boatworks at Tahoe files for bankruptcy

The Tahoe City, Calif., owner of Boatworks Mall and the adjacent Inn at Boatworks on Lake Tahoe's North Shore filed its petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of California on Aug. 11, listing $10 million to $50 million in assets and debts.

Citizens National Bank of Texas in January filed a notice of default against Boatworks at Tahoe on its $14.4 million loan after the debtor failed to pay property taxes and provide proof of insurance. The debtor is controlled by San Francisco developer MJD Capital Partners, according to SFGate.

Bankruptcy halts legal action

MJD's Chapter 11 filing invokes an automatic stay on all legal actions against the debtor while the bankruptcy case proceeds.

The debtor did not indicate in its petition if it planned to reorganize the Boatworks Mall business and restructure its debt or sell its assets in bankruptcy.

Owner planned property redevelopment

MJD purchased the property in 2019 with plans for a rebuild of the property. The developer planned to demolish the property in 2024, which included an 80-room hotel, 31 condominiums, and 8,000 square feet of retail space, but the project never proceeded.

A planned redevelopment would have moved the mall's retail closer to street level and away from the adjacent marina, according to Katherine Hill, executive director of the Tahoe City Downtown Association.

"Our board is committed to supporting our businesses in Tahoe City. We see the Boatworks Mall as an important part of our community," Hill told SFGate.

Boatworks Mall consists of a mix of retail, office and non-profit operations, including women's boutique Camila's at Tahoe, resort wear shop The Lucky Horseshoe, Steve Schmier's Jewelry, Tahoe City Chocolates candy shop, Acorn Home Furnishings and Design, souvenir shops Tahoe T-Shirtery and Tahoe Boho, makeup and eyelash shops, and training and yoga studios.

The upscale mall also houses The Snow Sports Museum and Placer County Library Tahoe City branch, as well as an architectural firm and general construction contractor.

The Inn at the Boatworks opened in 1958, and the mall opened 20 years later in 1978.

Another upscale mall files bankruptcy

Boatworks isn't the only upscale mall facing financial issues, as Blackhawk Plaza in Danville, Calif., filed for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California in March amid defaulted loans and lawsuits.

The Blackhawk area in Danville is an upscale community for which the Blackhawk Plaza accommodated with high-end retail tenants and restaurants, until many began closing following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Investment firm The Ramanujan Group LLC purchased the shopping center at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 for $28.3 million. The debtor defaulted on loans totaling $28 million and $3 million from Preferred Bank and $5 million from Nano Bank, according to SiliconValley.com.

Vanguard raises red flag on crucial IRA move

Jeffrey Quiggle — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 22:37:00 GMT

Asset management giant Vanguard wants Americans saving for retirement to be aware of crucial rules regarding requirements when deciding between a traditional IRA and a Roth IRA.

Different eligibility rules play a fundamentally key role when making the choice.

"Eligibility requirements for traditional and Roth IRAs differ primarily based on income levels and tax filing status," Vanguard wrote.

"Traditional IRAs generally allow anyone with earned income to contribute, but tax deductibility is phased out at higher income levels if the contributor or their spouse has access to a workplace retirement plan."

"In contrast, Roth IRAs have income caps beyond which individuals cannot contribute at all," Vanguard continued.

"Determining eligibility is crucial before choosing which IRA to open because it ensures that contributors select the type that maximizes their tax advantages and aligns with their financial situation and retirement goals."

While anyone with earned income can put money into a traditional IRA, opening a Roth account comes with strict income limits.

For 2026, Roth IRA eligibility begins phasing out for single tax filers earning $153,000 or more, while married couples filing jointly must bring in less than $242,000 to contribute, according to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Publication 590-A.

IRS explains specific Roth IRA eligibility requirements

Getting a bit more granular, here are the specific eligibility requirements for contributing to a Roth IRA for 2026, according to the IRS.

Married couples filing jointly or qualifying surviving spouses face reduced contribution limits when their modified Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) reaches $242,000, and they cannot contribute to a Roth IRA at all if their modified AGI is $252,000 or more.
Single filers, heads of household, or married individuals filing separately who did not live with their spouse at any time in 2026 see their allowed contributions decrease starting at a modified AGI of $153,000, and they become completely ineligible once their modified AGI reaches $168,000 or more.
Married individuals filing separately who resided with their spouse at any point during the year have reduced contribution limits if their modified AGI exceeds zero, and they are fully barred from making a Roth IRA contribution if their modified AGI reaches $10,000 or more. (This strict $0-to-$10,000 threshold exists to prevent married couples from using separate tax returns as a loophole to bypass income limits.)
(Source: IRS)

Vanguard outlines 2026 Roth IRA contribution limits

Roth IRA contribution limits cap the total amount one can contribute to their account each year, resetting annually.

A person actually has until the tax deadline — typically April 15 of the following calendar year — to max out their contribution for the previous year.

More on personal finance:

For 2026, the baseline limit is $7,500, though investors age 50 and older get an extra boost with an $8,600 cap to help accelerate their retirement savings, according to Vanguard.

"One of the Roth IRA benefits is that any growth on the money you invest is tax-free, eliminating the need to report investment earnings — the money your money makes — when filing your taxes," wrote Vanguard.

A common mistake people make with retirement accounts is only considering maximum contributions while ignoring tax implications.

"Traditional and Roth accounts have different implications when it comes to taxation; therefore, depending on personal income and other factors, one should consider which of the two is more suitable," wrote Ashley Akin, CPA and TMGM senior contributor, in an email to TheStreet.

Vanguard emphasizes key rules when choosing an IRA for retirement savings.

Shutterstock

Vanguard explains spousal IRAs

Another option one can consider when deciding among IRA options is the spousal IRA.

"Typically you need earned income to contribute to an IRA, but a spousal IRA relaxes that requirement and gives a husband or wife with low or no annual wages a way to save tax-efficiently for the future too," Vanguard wrote.

Traditional and Roth accounts have different implications when it comes to taxation; therefore, depending on personal income and other factors, one should consider which of the two is more suitable."

A spousal IRA isn't a separate account category — it’s simply a standard traditional or Roth IRA that extends valuable retirement tax perks to a non-earning partner.

If one spouse earns little to no income, this arrangement allows them to build their own tax-advantaged nest egg using the couple's shared household earnings.

"It's not a joint account, but rather a separate IRA set up in your spouse's name," Vanguard wrote. "You must be married and filing a joint tax return in order to open a spousal IRA."

Another low-cost airline is betting big on Guatemala travel

Veronika Bondarenko — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 22:32:25 GMT

With more than one million international travelers coming to Guatemala in the first four months of 2026, the tourist numbers are a clear indication that the Central American nation known for its Mayan history and volcanic landscape is in the middle of a tourist boon that will only continue to gain momentum.

In January 2026, United Airlines started running a new flight to Guatemala City from Houston (IAH) while Colombian flag carrier Avianca is also currently offering a new seasonal route to the country's capital city from San Francisco International (SFO) until the start of September.

With the low-cost airline based out of Denver launching its first flight to Guatemala in 2025 to tap into what at that point was largely an underserved market for U.S. airlines, it now flies into La Aurora International Airport (GUA) from Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Miami, and Orlando.

Frontier Airlines to launch new flight to Guatemala City from LAX in December 2026

This week, the airline also confirmed a new seasonal route from LAX that will run from Dec. 17 and until January 2027.

The budget airline confirmed that it will run the flight to aviation outlet AirlineGeeks but has not announced it publicly or clarified why it will only offer it for such a short time period.

The late December to early January time is when many leave for sun-seeking holidays while members of the diaspora also travel between the two countries to visit family. It is also unclear whether the seasonal route is a pilot run that will show Frontier whether to launch it on a permanent basis.

The flight will run on an Airbus A320neo plane with room for up to 180 passengers and leave Los Angeles at 9:51 a.m. to arrive in Guatemala City just under five hours later at 4:48 p.m. The return flight will leave Guatemala City at 7:38 p.m. local time and come back to Los Angeles at 11:30 p.m.

From other cities in the U.S., Frontier's flights to Guatemala start at $157 in one direction without any baggage.

Frontier Airlines is the latest carrier to commit to a new route to Guatemala City.

Frontier Airlines

Why Guatemala might be the hottest new travel destination for 2026 and beyond

Competitors have also praised Guatemala City as a rapidly-evolving market and popular travel destination.

"The launch of this route responds to customer demand for more connectivity options between key destinations and is part of Avianca's strategy to continue strengthening its international network with an efficient and reliable operation," Alejandro Benítez, senior vice president of corporate development for Avianca, said in a statement on the airline's new route to the country in February 2026.

More Travel News:

The country also won the title of the "Best Hidden Gem" category at the Travel Awards ceremony held by airline booking platform eDreams Travel earlier this year.

"Guatemala stood out for the increasing attention it has received from international visitors interested in discovering local culture, natural attractions, gastronomy, and less crowded destinations," eDreams wrote of the winner that overtook South Korea, New Zealand, Almaty, and Senegal for its spot at the top.

Apple’s next iPhone battle just got more complicated

Faizan Farooque — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 22:17:00 GMT

Apple (AAPL) is preparing to undertake a pretty unpleasant AI test.

Google has unveiled the Pixel 11 series. With Gemini Intelligence incorporated much more deeply into the smartphone experience, it offers customers an AI assistant that can comprehend what they're doing across messaging, calendars, maps, and other services, then help take action.

That’s important, since Apple is likely to launch an overhauled Siri powered in part by Google’s Gemini models.

That is, Google is not merely one of Apple’s AI providers. And it gives consumers a sneak peek of what a more powerful AI phone experience looks like before Apple launches its own version.

For Apple investors, there’s a more pointed question than whether the future Siri is just better than the existing one.

Can Apple use that same underlying AI tech and transform it into an experience appealing enough to protect the iPhone's largest competitive advantage: a huge, loyal, installed base?

Google products director Rick Osterloh told CNBC that Pixel and iPhone are heading in “very different directions" and that Google believes AI might eventually be the main way people use phones, computers, and other gadgets.

Apple can’t afford to have Siri feel like a catch-up feature if that’s where the market is headed.

“For the last 10 to 15 years, not a lot has changed in how you use laptops and mobile phones,” Osterloh told CNBC. “But we think that’s about to change dramatically.”

Apple’s Siri reset now has a clearer benchmark

The Google Pixel 11 provides Apple with something it never had before: a live demo of the kind of AI experience it now has to match, CNBC noted.

Gemini Intelligence can extract information from messages, calendars, maps, and other Google services and advise or take next activities, such as researching travel choices or creating a restaurant reservation.

This is a significant leap from how most users now use AI. Instead of firing up a chatbot, asking a question, and then doing the task manually elsewhere, Google is putting Gemini further into the operating system so it can work across apps.

That’s just the sort of functionality Apple has been promised for Siri.

The irony here is that Apple is anticipated to leverage Google’s own models to help deliver it.

Now for Apple, the difficulty is integration, not model quality. If the two businesses are working with the same AI family, the competitive edge could be in how well each links that intelligence to the operating system, apps, user data, and device ecosystem.

The big advantage Apple has is scale. Apple already has more consumer-facing handsets with generative AI capabilities than any other brand, Counterpoint Research told CNBC.

Apple doesn’t need to win the AI phone race by converting Android consumers first. It could unlock new AI possibilities for a vast installed base of iPhones.

It's important to note, though, that Apple has spent years cultivating a reputation for smooth hardware-software synergy. So if its redesigned Siri is slower, less capable, or less intimately linked than Gemini on Pixel, people may notice right away.

Apple’s biggest strength could also become its biggest pressure point

The iPhone ecosystem is one of the biggest moats in consumer tech.

The user typically owns an iPhone, an Apple Watch, AirPods, a Mac, or an iPad. That makes it expensive and inconvenient to switch, and that has helped Apple sustain amazing customer loyalty.

More Apple:

AI might either reinforce that advantage or proceed to destroy it. If Siri becomes seriously helpful across Apple’s ecosystem, the firm gets another layer of lock-in. A user who can ask Siri to coordinate messages, trips, appointments, apps, and devices could have even less incentive to quit.

But if Google can make Gemini considerably more powerful on Android, AI becomes a new incentive to think about switching.

That’s why Osterloh’s assertion that Pixel and iPhone are headed in “very different directions,” as Gadget Review noted, is so important.

Google is wagering that stronger AI integration may be a product differentiator, not merely a software function.

Now it’s up to Apple to show that the iPhone can make the same technology feel uniquely Apple.

Senior VP of hardware Engineering John Ternus (left) takes over for Tim Cook (right) as Apple CEO on Sept. 1, 2026.

VALERIE MACON / Getty Images

Apple may have the installed base, but Google has the early showcase

The timing is especially awkward for Apple.

The Pixel 11 gives Google a chance to show off its latest AI features before Apple rolls out its revamped Siri experience.

Such developments can affect consumer expectations. If customers start to expect AI assistants to grasp context, work across apps, and take action automatically, the bar for Siri is raised quite a bit.

Apple can no longer simply make Siri smarter at answering questions. It needs to make Siri valuable enough to transform how people use the iPhone.

Google says the transition is coming soon. People may someday use phones, laptops, and other gadgets primarily through Gemini, Osterloh added.

Should that forecast come true, the smartphone interface may shift more significantly than it has in years. Programs may still be crucial, but consumers may increasingly rely on an assistant to determine which programs and services to run in the background.

That is another level of platform strength.

Today, Apple owns the iPhone interface. And tomorrow, the AI assistant on top of that interface could be just as critical.

Rising hardware costs make Apple’s AI challenge even tougher

There’s one more thing Apple investors need to monitor. The whole consumer-electronics business is afflicted with the same memory loss that is afflicting Google.

Shortages in RAM and flash memory are causing companies to hike the pricing of devices; Google expects further price increases, Osterloh told CNBC.

That matters for Apple, since AI-enabled iPhones require more memory and more powerful components.

If hardware costs continue to rise, Apple may be forced to make a tough compromise. It may absorb greater costs and compress margins, or pass those costs to consumers in the form of higher iPhone prices.

Either way, purchasers need to perceive AI as a big reason to upgrade, and that it is not happening now.

AI is just the sixth or seventh reason people replace a smartphone right now, CNBC noted, although AI has been climbing. That means Apple may need to educate consumers on why AI matters and convince them to pay more for gadgets.

What Apple investors should watch

Rebuilt Siri: It remains to be seen whether Apple can match Google’s deeper agentic capabilities.
Gemini integration: Apple will reveal the degree to which it can make Google’s AI technology feel native to the iPhone.
Installed base: Apple’s huge population of AI-capable devices remains a major advantage.
Upgrade demand: AI still is not a top reason most consumers replace smartphones.
Memory costs: Higher component prices could pressure margins or force price increases.
Ecosystem advantage: Apple needs Siri to strengthen its existing lock-in, rather than give Android a new selling point.

So, the imminent introduction of Google’s Pixel 11 matters to Apple for a reason that has less to do with Pixel sales. It gives Apple a picture of the competitive bar against which its next Siri will be measured.

Google gets to show off Gemini first, while Apple has the largest installed base.

Now both are seeking to answer the same question: Can AI become important enough to transform how people use their phones?

The stakes are especially high for Apple stockholders.

The company won’t have to invent the best AI model, but it will need to make the iPhone the ideal platform to use it.

Oil markets look calm on top, but underneath shows a big toll

Charley Blaine — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 22:14:46 GMT

It was a nice lull in gasoline prices, wasn't it?

Alas, a deal between the United States and Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz fell apart yet again, and oil prices turned up more than $5 a barrel and have pulled up U.S. pump prices as well.

Nationally, the average U.S. price of gasoline was above $4 on Aug. 12, according to both AAA and GasBuddy.

This should not have been a huge surprise. President Donald Trump and officials in his administration have regularly suggested Iranian officials are pleading for the war to end. Then, they find the Iranians add more conditions to bring conflict to a finish.

AAA was at $4.036 a gallon, up 0.06% from a day earlier after bottoming at $4.009 on Aug 10.

GasBuddy's average was $4.036 a gallon, up about the same amount, and up 2.3% from its recent low, $3.945, on Aug. 9.

So, the numbers are modestly lower at best from the end of July. And it doesn't look like the situation will change until some time in September at the earliest.

The challenges of reopening the strait

The challenge right now is reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway that links the oil-producing countries around the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean and the greater world.

Before Israel and the United States attacked Iran on Feb. 28, about 20% of the world's crude oil supply moved through the strait every day.

President Trump said on Aug. 12 the U.S. had "total control" of the strait. But data on traffic in the Gulf suggests control doesn't mean more ships are going through the passage.

Only 14 ships passed through the strait on Aug. 11, The Wall Street Journal reported. A day later, only 16 ships were in the strait, according to another tracker Strait of Hormuz Monitor.

Oil tankers and cargo vessels waiting to enter the Strait of Hormuz from Oman.

Shady Alassar / Anadolu / Getty Images

War cuts global oil supplies AND demand

The problem of the strait — plus the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia — is aggravating global energy supply shortages. That may mean oil prices — and gasoline prices — will remain higher for longer.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates higher prices because the war has cut into global oil demand. Demand for all of 2026 will be about 1.6 million barrels a day lower than a year ago.

The war in the Persian Gulf will cut global oil supply by even more. The IEA projects the supply in 2026 will fall 4.3 million barrels per day on average to about 102.3 million barrels a day. The supply should rebound to 110.3 million barrels per day in 2027.

The United States is the world's biggest oil consumer at about 20 million barrels a day, according to the public reference site Worldometer.

Still, the output losses are far smaller than some of the worst-case scenarios painted early in the war. Countries and companies have implemented an array of workaround measures, according to Bloomberg News.

These include alternative pipelines used by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and the use of shuttle tankers plying the Strait of Hormuz.

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War worries boost energy stocks

The continuing instability in and around the Persian Gulf (including attacks on shipping in the Red Sea by Houthi rebels in Yemen) has put a floor under oil prices at about $70 a barrel and put a lid on oil stocks.

The State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR exchange-traded fund (XLE) closed August 12 at $61.03. That was up 10 cents from the prior day and near its 52-week high of $63.46 on March 30. The ETF is up 36% in 2026.

The ETF's top 10 components include Exxon Mobil (XOM), Chevron(CVX) and ConocoPhillips (COP).

Light sweet crude hit a 52-week high of $119.48 on March 9.

Amazon's $108 farmhouse storage cabinet is perfect for small spaces

Adam Reeder — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 22:04:12 GMT

TheStreet aims to feature only the best products and services. If you buy something via one of our links, we may earn a commission.

Why we love this deal

Kitchen storage is never an easy problem to solve. While most people have plenty of built-in cabinets, there always seems to be a need for more. Additionally, you may need to add to your available storage in other rooms as well. Whether that's next to the sofa in the living room, beside your cozy bed in the bedroom, or even in your outdoor shed, you can never have too much space to store your wares. Luckily, Amazon has some of the most affordable storage cabinets, and we found a deal on one that's just as attractive as it is affordable.

The Xiomiohtrq Farmhouse Storage Cabinet is on sale for only $108. That's a discount of 10% off the regular price of $120. If you're looking for a way to keep your items safe and sound while adding to the decor of your interior, then this is a great buy.

Xiomiohtrq Farmhouse Storage Cabinet, $108 (was $120) at Amazon

SOPA Images via Getty Images

Why do shoppers love it?

This cabinet has everything you could want in a full-sized pantry and more. Made from thick and durable metal, the cabinet is relatively lightweight but incredibly sturdy. The metal is corrosion resistant and rustproof. It's also waterproof, making it a great fit for both the kitchen and the bathroom, depending on your needs. It measures 27.5 inches long by 13.8 inches wide by 61 inches high. That means it's spacious enough to hold lots of items, but still has a small enough of a footprint that it doesn't take up a lot of valuable square footage in your home.

Visually, the pantry adds a whole lot to any room. It has two beautiful cross-hatch farmhouse doors, which you don't often see on metal cabinetry. The subtle and elegant gold handle on each door adds a level of sophistication that you don't often see on kitchen pantries. There are also four lovely geometric feet at the bottom of the cabinet that give it stability while also adding to the sleek modern lines of the piece.

On the practical side of things, this cabinet has so much room inside that you may have space to spare. It has four interior shelves for storage purposes. Three of them are fully removable and adjustable. That allows you to store anything from tiny knick-knacks to large vases and other decor items inside. No matter how you wish to use it, this cabinet can adapt to your needs. It's one of the most versatile designs that we can imagine when it comes to movable standalone cabinets. It's also available in six colors and three configurations, so feel free to mix and match.

Amazon shoppers were extremely pleased with this cabinet. One said it "looks fancy," adding "it is packed with toiletries and still very sturdy. Setup was a breeze. Will be buying another."

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The Xiomiohtrq Farmhouse Storage Cabinet is an ideal way to keep your items in order. At just $108, it's also a wonderful way to save a few dollars. The more you buy the more you save with this beautiful piece of furniture, so we recommend you click the buy button ASAP.

Analyst warns software stock has an $18B problem

Tyler Bundy — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 22:03:00 GMT

Bending Spoons has built its public-market story around acquisitions, but Bank of America says investors may be expecting far more dealmaking than the company can realistically fund.

In a note given to TheStreet, BofA analyst Omar Dessouky downgraded Bending Spoons (BSP) to Underperform from Neutral while raising his price objective to $39 from $37.

With shares at $53.44 when the note was published, the new target still implied about 27% downside.

The analyst’s biggest concern sits inside the valuation. BofA estimates roughly $23 of the current share price reflects value creation from future mergers and acquisitions, which would require about $18 billion of additional M&A.

BofA says Bending Spoons needs exceptional deal returns

Bending Spoons acquires digital businesses, cuts costs, improves operations and reinvests the resulting earnings into more acquisitions. The company says it has followed that model for more than a decade and has never sold a material business.

That strategy has already produced a sprawling portfolio that includes AOL, Eventbrite, Vimeo, Evernote, and WeTransfer.

Bending Spoons also agreed this month to acquire Airtable in an all-cash deal valuing the software company at $1.285 billion in enterprise value. Airtable had about $480 million in annual recurring revenue as of June, growing more than 20% year over year.

BofA argues the problem is how much additional success investors have already priced in.

Dessouky estimates the current share price would require approximately $18 billion of future M&A enterprise value and returns near a 35% internal rate of return. Bending Spoons has previously discussed a 25% hurdle rate, according to the note.

Even if Bending Spoons could deploy $18.4 billion into deals over two years, BofA’s scenario analysis suggests anything below a 35% IRR would leave its valuation below the $53.44 share price used in the report.

Bending Spoons reported $4.09 billion of net debt at the end of the second quarter, along with a 2.4 times leverage ratio.

Debt capacity could limit Bending Spoons' acquisition pace

Financing presents another hurdle. BofA estimates Bending Spoons could have roughly $7 billion of additional debt capacity by the end of 2027, assuming the company completed no further acquisitions before then.

That falls well short of the M&A volume BofA believes the stock currently implies.

The company’s latest financial results help show the scale of that constraint. Bending Spoons reported $4.09 billion of net debt at the end of the second quarter, along with a 2.4 times leverage ratio. It had $793 million in cash and $1.28 billion of unused borrowing capacity under its revolving credit facilities.

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Bending Spoons has added capital since quarter-end. Its July IPO generated $1.10 billion in net proceeds, while the company also entered new or expanded euro-denominated term loan facilities totaling €590 million.

Those moves increase the company’s ability to keep buying businesses, but BofA still sees a wide gap between available financing and the amount of dealmaking embedded in the stock.

Airtable adds a new execution risk

The Airtable acquisition also pushes Bending Spoons deeper into software-as-a-service, an area BofA views as both an opportunity and a risk.

Dessouky said the SaaS pivot could accelerate deal volume if Bending Spoons can acquire high-growth businesses at attractive valuations. However, he questioned whether those assets can be bought cheaply at scale and pointed to execution risk as the company moves toward sales-driven SaaS businesses.

The warning comes as Bending Spoons continues to post rapid headline growth. Second-quarter revenue jumped 126% to $704 million, while adjusted operating income rose 150% to $381 million.

Organic revenue growth, however, was just 3%, with the company saying acquisitions drove most of the revenue increase.

For BofA, the issue is no longer whether Bending Spoons can make successful acquisitions. The current valuation appears to require the company to make far more of them, finance them, and continue generating unusually high returns along the way.

Costco makes a pricing promise members need to know

Daniel Kline — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 21:55:53 GMT

If Wendy's offers a $5 value meal that includes a sandwich, chicken nuggets, fries, and a soda, Burger King and McDonald's run the risk of losing value-based customers, even if those people prefer eating at the other two chains.

Cash-strapped consumers are cutting back on spending, and that has driven chains to discount more.

“Based on data from multiple sources, there does appear to be a contraction in overall QSR traffic,” Berry AI CEO Eric Lam told The Food Institute. "As a result, there will be an increase in ‘value meal’ offerings across brands. But this is a tricky dance.”

Value isn't solely price, and McDonald's and Burger King don't want to copy what Wendy's has traditionally done, but the current market has forced them to offer more value-based choices.

The same thing happens in retail, but when it comes to grocery and supermarkets, Walmart and Amazon don't appear to be keeping up with Costco on price, which allows the membership-based chain to maintain its pricing crown without pressure to go even lower.

Walmart takes on grocery chains

Costco's grocery basket, as checked by Consumer Reports, comes in at 21.9% cheaper than Walmart's. Amazon was not included in the study.

Price has been causing Albertsons to lose customers, and CEO Susan Morris shared where those shoppers are going during the chain's first-quarter earnings call.

"Our biggest leakage is to the big players, to Walmart, Amazon," she said, speaking specifically of losing lower-income customers.

Albertsons's Safeway brand came in at 8.8% more expensive than Walmart while its Stop & Shop brand was 22% more expensive and its Jewel-Osco chain was 29.7% pricier, according to the Consumer Reports study.

That gives Walmart and Amazon an opportunity to grow share by taking customers from traditional grocery players without having to match Costco's prices.

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Walmart U.S. President David Guggina sees the ability to take more share from grocery chains.

"Grocery is the fastest-moving item, and we are the largest grocer in the U.S.," he said during the retail giant's Sept. 9, 2025 earnings call.

Amazon sees grocery growth

Amazon is following behind Walmart, according to CEO Andy Jassy.

"We have Same-Day fresh food delivery in over 2,300 towns and cities across the country. Our grocery business has grown to over $150 billion in gross sales in 2025, making Amazon the second-largest grocer in the U.S.' he wrote in his 2025 annual shareholders' letter.

Amazon and Walmart, however, can grow without taking Costco's customers, RTM Nexus CEO Dominick Misernadino told TheStreet.

"Look, Walmart and Amazon aren't lying awake at night trying to beat Costco on price. They don't have to. They know Costco is playing an entirely different game — bulk buying behind a membership paywall where the average ring at the register is pushing two hundred bucks," he said.

Amazon and Walmart can undercut traditional grocery chains, he noted.

"Traditional grocery operates on thin margins with high overhead, and their shelf prices reflect it. Walmart uses its massive supply chain muscle to undercut those traditional grocers by 10% to 15% across the board, while Amazon uses Prime, automated fulfillment, and aggressive price-matching algorithms to keep traditional grocery locked out of digital market share," he added.

Costco pushes itself on pricing to keep members happy.

Shutterstock

Costco sees competition differently

Normally, when a company says something like that, it sees itself as its biggest competitor; it sounds like a coach saying his team just focuses on giving 110% or some other meaningless cliché.

In Costco's case, however, CFO Gary Millerchip makes a pretty compelling case that none of its rivals are pushing the warehouse club on price.

"I think maybe taking a step back and talk about the competitive landscape, we think of the market as being very rational currently. You know, we tend to be our own biggest competitor," he said during the company's third-quarter earnings call.

That's a bad line from most CFO's, but Costco has built its business around member retention, and that does create pressure to keep prices lower than its rivals.

"With our goal being always to maintain that pricing authority and to be there for our members," he added.

CEO Ron Vachris explained how the chain broadly maintains its price authority, and it's not based on anything Amazon or Walmart does.

"We have always talked long-standingly that we are the first to come down and the last to go up," he said.

Costco's U.S. and Canada renewal rate came in at 92.2% for Q3, while its worldwide rate held at 89.7%. Total paid membership was 82.9 million at Q3's end, up 4.1%, and total cardholders are 149 million, up 4%.

Parent PLUS borrowers get no relief from RAP math

Damilola Esebame — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 21:37:00 GMT

The Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) launched on July 1, 2026, and married borrowers are calculating how their filing status will change their monthly student loan payments.

The RAP structure sharpens the existing marriage penalty because the plan sets no allowance for basic living costs and jumps borrowers into higher percentage brackets as joint income rises.

But 3.6 million Parent PLUS borrowers with a combined $115 billion in debt cannot even enter that calculation, according to Federal Student Aid Data Center figures cited by ELFI.

RAP permanently excludes every loan tied to the parent lending program, and the sole consolidation path to income-driven repayment expired on June 30, 2026, Mass.gov reported.

How the consolidation window closed on Parent PLUS borrowers

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act replaced the old menu of income-driven repayment plans with two choices for loans disbursed after July 1, 2026.

Those two options are the Tiered Standard Repayment Plan and the Repayment Assistance Plan, which is the only new income-driven program available, the U.S. Department of Education stated.

Parent PLUS loans were never eligible for most income-driven plans, but consolidating into a Direct Consolidation Loan unlocked Income-Contingent Repayment and Income-Based Repayment, Tate Law reported.

That path required disbursement on or before June 30, 2026, and federal regulation now bars every later consolidation from the legacy plans.

The closure is statutory rather than procedural, which means no administrative appeal, exception request, or servicer override can reverse the exclusion for any borrower.

RAP's exclusion covers all 3 layers of Parent PLUS debt

The Massachusetts Attorney General's office published a repayment guide that spells out which loan types RAP will not cover and how far the exclusion reaches.

Here are the three layers of Parent PLUS debt permanently excluded from RAP:

Consolidation loans that retired earlier consolidation loans containing Parent PLUS debt
Unconsolidated Parent PLUS loans
Consolidation loans that paid off Parent PLUS balances

That third layer catches borrowers who consolidated years ago and then reconsolidated, since any loan with a Parent PLUS ancestor has the exclusion.

The exclusion flows from P.L. 119-21, the FY2025 reconciliation law that created RAP, according to Congressional Research Service.

Parent PLUS borrowers face strict RAP exclusions, limiting repayment assistance options.

d3sign / Getty Images

The marriage penalty hits harder without an income-driven option

More than 42 million Americans hold federal student loans, with outstanding debt exceeding $1.6 trillion, Congressional Research Service showed.

Roughly half of the borrowers in the federal loan system are married, higher-education expert Mark Kantrowitz estimated in his analysis for CNBC.

RAP-eligible borrowers face a painful but navigable choice between filing jointly and absorbing a steeper monthly bill or filing separately and losing tax benefits.

Douglas Boneparth, a certified financial planner and the president of Bone Fide Wealth in New York, told CNBC that marriage can have an immediate and significant impact on monthly payments, regardless of whether an individual's income has changed.

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"Marriage can change their monthly payment immediately and dramatically, even if their own income hasn't changed at all," Boneparth said.

RAP charges between 1% and 10% of adjusted gross income, and each $10,000 increase in income pushes borrowers into a higher percentage bracket, Kantrowitz explained.

Filing separately under RAP lets the borrowing spouse use only their earnings for the payment calculation, which can reduce the monthly bill by hundreds.

Parent PLUS borrowers cannot access that lever, because their payments on Extended or Graduated repayment are set by the loan balance and interest rate alone.

Filing separately still costs them the same tax benefits other couples sacrifice, but they receive no corresponding payment reduction to offset that cost.

What married Parent PLUS households have left

Unconsolidated Parent PLUS loans retain access to three legacy repayment plans that do not depend on income: Standard, Extended, and Graduated, Tate Law confirmed.

Extended Repayment stretches the term to 25 years for borrowers owing more than $30,000, according to the Federal Student Aid.

The interest rate on new Parent PLUS loans for the 2026-27 academic year sits at 9.07%, tied with legacy Grad PLUS loans and higher than the 8.07% graduate Direct rate and 6.52% undergraduate Direct rate.

At these new rates, moving a $32,000 balance from the 10-year Standard Plan to the 25-year Extended Plan cuts the monthly bill by roughly a third, though total interest paid rises significantly over the longer term.

Defaulting on these loans could expose households to the Treasury Offset Program, which allows wage garnishment and Social Security offsets without a court order.

Kevin Thompson, Founder and CEO of 9i Capital Group, warned in Newsweek that parents who borrowed through the PLUS program face this collection risk.

The financial pressure could compound for Parent PLUS families

Borrowers with older balances at lower rates face the same structural exclusion from income-driven relief, which means no forgiveness timeline exists.

The open question for every married Parent PLUS borrower is whether Extended Repayment at 25 years provides enough monthly breathing room to avoid default.

Financial planner Kathleen Boyd told CNBC that standard payments can be difficult to manage, especially near retirement.

Defaulting on federal parent loans triggers administrative wage garnishment of up to 15% of disposable pay, Social Security offsets, and tax refund seizure.

None of those collection actions require a court order, and none offers the borrower a prior hearing, Tate Law documented.

19-year-old luxury travel brand bankrupt, liquidation possible

Veronika Bondarenko — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 21:25:13 GMT

With multiple small airlines and travel agencies shutting down operations since the start of the year, 2026 has ended up being a challenging year to be in the travel industry.

Rising travel costs due to the spike in jet fuel prices over the war in Iran as well as regular challenges around finding customers and operating costs ended up dealing the final blow to many small and mid-size businesses in different parts of the world.

The latest name to join their rank with an administration filing, which is the United Kingdom equivalent closest to a business filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S., is luxury private travel events company Private Drama Events.

Luxury events agency Private Drama Events files for administration in the UK

Launched in 2007 in London, the company that positioned itself as a "storytelling agency" organizes various theatrical events, celebrity parties and immersive experiences such as a murder mystery night on the historic luxury Belmond Pullman trains.

Singer and songwriter Katy Perry turned to Private Drama Events to organize her 40th birthday celebration in Venice in 2024. The gala was inspired by the theme of the Orient Express train and included guests such as Jeff Bezos and wife Lauren Sánchez, an appearance that caused outcry at the time given Bezos' earlier move to block the Washington Post from endorsing Democratic candidate Kamala Harris for the 2024 presidential run in the U.S.

As first reported by local outlet The Gazette, Private Drama Events entered administration on August 6 while a Companies House listing shows that accounts that the firm owed for 2025 are now overdue.

The events agency had last recorded 10 full-time employees and has more than 100,000 followers on Instagram. The company has not yet acknowledged or commented on the administration filing.

Private Drama Events organized a number of high-profile inspired by historic luxury trains.

Belmond

How glitzy events firm Private Drama Events still ended up in administration

The biggest difference with a corporate Chapter 11 filing in the U.S. is that an administration filing in the UK automatically results in the appointment of an independent overseer, in this case Nicholas Simmonds and Chris Newell of Quantuma Advisory Limited.

The outcome, meanwhile, can range between a restructuring and full liquidation; no further information on the process in this case is currently publicly available.

More Travel News:

Travel agencies that filed for bankruptcy in 2026:

AVG Travels: The Melbourne-based travel agency selling cheap vacation packages to travelers in Australia and New Zealand sent more than 200 travelers an email saying that the trips were canceled before entering bankruptcy in May 2026.
GoPlay Sports: In April 2026, the men’s basketball team of the University of Dallas was left without a planned trip to compete in the United Kingdom after Boston-based GoPlay Sports Tours LLC accepted two payments of $30,000 and then went unreachable.
Havantur: Havantur was forced to shut down its main European office in Franceat the start of 2026 after tourist numbers to the Caribbean country plummeted due to U.S. military actions in Venezuela and threats against the country.
Vegas Vacations and North America Destinations: Two travel agencies in the Canadian province of British Columbia, Vegas Vacations and North America Destinations, were shut down by regulators within a few days of each other in January 2026 after multiple travelers complained of buying trips with invalid plane tickets and hotel bookings.

Bank of America reveals Rocket Lab stock outlook after earnings

Tyler Bundy — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 21:03:00 GMT

Rocket Lab’s second-quarter results gave Bank of America another reason to stay bullish on the space company, even as one part of the business came in lighter than Wall Street expected.

Bank of America reiterated its Buy rating and $115 price objective on Rocket Lab (RKLB) after earnings, analyst Ronald Epstein said in a note given to TheStreet. The target represents roughly 44% upside from the $80.04 share price used in the firm’s Aug. 10 report.

The bank also called potential weakness in Rocket Lab shares following the revenue miss “a particularly attractive entry point,” pointing to strong Space Systems growth, a record backlog and a stronger third-quarter revenue outlook.

Rocket Lab’s launch business weighs on revenue

Rocket Lab reported second-quarter revenue of $234.1 million, up 62% from $144.5 million a year earlier. The result beat BofA’s $228 million estimate, though it came in slightly below the $237 million Bloomberg consensus cited in the bank’s note.

The shortfall was largely tied to Rocket Lab’s Launch Services segment, where revenue fell about 4% from a year ago to $44.6 million. Space Systems moved in the opposite direction, with revenue climbing to $189.5 million from $97.9 million a year earlier, according to the company’s quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

BofA said Space Systems revenue was well ahead of its $165 million estimate, helped by work tied to the Space Development Agency’s Tranche II and III programs and Rocket Lab’s spacecraft components business.

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The bank also pointed to signs that weaker launch revenue may prove temporary. Rocket Lab said it secured more than $437 million in new launch contracts across Electron, HASTE, and Neutron during the quarter and after the period ended, pushing its launch backlog above 90 missions.

Rocket Lab posted a record $2.36 billion total backlog at the end of the quarter, up 137% from a year earlier, according to the company. Its SEC filing showed about 45% of that backlog is expected to be recognized as revenue over the next 12 months.

BofA rounded that figure to roughly 46% in its note, giving the firm another reason to expect continued revenue growth beyond the latest quarter.

The company also narrowed its GAAP net loss to $49.3 million from $66.4 million in the year-ago period. Gross profit rose to $84.6 million from $46.4 million, according to Rocket Lab’s SEC filing.

Rocket Lab’s second-quarter results gave Bank of America another reason to stay bullish on the space company.

SOPA Images via Getty Images

Bank of America sees more growth ahead for Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab expects third-quarter revenue between $250 million and $265 million. At the midpoint, BofA said that would represent about 66% year-over-year growth and come in above the $237 million Bloomberg consensus estimate cited by the firm.

The company also expects an adjusted EBITDA loss between $17 million and $23 million in the third quarter. That follows an $8.8 million adjusted EBITDA loss in the second quarter, which BofA said was better than both its $19.3 million loss estimate and the $22.1 million consensus loss cited in the note.

Neutron is another major part of the outlook. Rocket Lab said production of the rocket’s Stage 1 tank remains aligned with delivering the reusable medium-lift vehicle to the launch pad in the fourth quarter of 2026, while first-flight hardware continues through assembly, integration, and testing.

BofA noted that uncertainty remains around the development timeline, leaving Neutron as one of the biggest variables for investors watching the company’s next phase of growth.

The bank’s $115 price objective is based on a discounted cash flow analysis incorporating base, bull, and bear cases through 2045. BofA identified production delays, setbacks in Neutron development, and difficulties achieving expected acquisition synergies as among the downside risks to its target.

For now, the firm is looking past the softer launch quarter. With Space Systems revenue nearly doubling, backlog at a record and another quarter of rapid growth expected, BofA continues to see upside in Rocket Lab shares after earnings.

Delta Air Lines has a reliability problem that may get worse

Daniel Kline — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 20:17:00 GMT

If you fly regularly, you understand that delays happen, and as a frequent flyer myself, I'll say that they're forgivable, as long as the airline gets me to my intended destination eventually.

Airlines, however, have been bragging about their ability to get you there on time.

Cirium has published punctuality data for 17 years, and its annual report is one of the industry’s most widely accepted benchmarks.

The aviation analytics firm's CEP Jeremy Bowen told Skift that on-time arrival has actually become a bragging point.

"Airlines are now overtly sharing this with their passengers. They’re saying: If you fly with us, we will get you there on time," he said.

But airlines are much less likely to market how often flights are canceled, particularly when those cancellations stem from operational problems. That has become a growing problem for Delta Air Lines.

Delta Air Lines has a pilot problem

Cancellations happen, and although passengers may not be happy when that happens, there are times they understand it. If, for example, your flight gets canceled due to a blizzard or a hurricane, that's much easier to accept than a flight that gets canceled because there's nobody to fly the plane.

Broadly, canceled flights are the biggest concern airline passengers have, according to a survey by Qualtrics cited by Forbes.

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"Canceled flights (26%), lost luggage (11.4%), and delayed flights (8.7%) took the top three spots for the single most frustrating experiences for passengers. But additional fees — whether it’s checked luggage fees (8.2%) or hidden fees (6.3%) — were still high on the annoying airline experience," the data showed.

Delta Air Lines has been canceling more flights than its rivals, according to View From the Wing's Gary Leff.

"Delta’s once-vaunted operation has become terrible. They canceled nearly 3% of their flights in July, which was worse than United and American and even about 2.6 times as many cancellations as Southwest," he wrote.

The problems, he noted, start with weather, but that's not the underlying issue.

"Delta has gotten much worse at recovering its operation once problems hit. They now tend to spiral. Management correctly blamed pilot scheduling as a challenge, but it’s also very much on their own management, not just for agreeing to provisions of their own pilot contract that their IT systems can’t keep up with, and for running an operation too short of cockpit crew," he added.

Delta Air Lines has struggled with flight cancellations.

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Delta Air Lines knows it has a problem

Delta CEO Ed Bastian addressed the situation during the airline's first-quarter earnings call.

"Over the past several months, particularly following severe weather, our reliability and recovery haven't met our high standards consistently enough. We understand the drivers, and this has our full attention," he said.

He promised that the airline would address the issue.

"Teams are taking targeted actions to improve resilience and recovery as well as addressing challenges that have resulted from contractual changes to our pilot working agreement that came into effect over the past year," he added.

Leff made it clear that the issues between the airline and its pilots will not go away quickly.

"The airline and pilot union went into negotiations to revise scheduling practices. The pilot union set up a website to blame management for cancellations even before Delta’s July meltdown. They wanted to make sure that when Delta says the problem is crew availability, that customers heard management has failed to invest in its operation rather than pilots refuse to work," he wrote.

Delta Air Lines has been canceling flights

"Delta has an operational problem," said The Cranky Flier Brett Snyder.

"Delta is not living up to the carefully-constructed brand image as an operational rock star over the last couple of decades," he added.

Snyder used data from Anuvu to demonstrate the problem.

"Remember, a good standard is to try to complete 99% of flights or better, so if Delta is consistently up by 1 to 2 points on the industry as it was for years? That’s a huge difference. But it has slipped, and this year it has been downright worse than the industry overall in more than one month," he wrote.

The airline's problems, he shared, aren't just an isolated issue or a few months.

"Outside of April, it has not been above 99% in any single month this year," Snyder added.

Delta COO Ed Janki admitted to the pilot scheduling problem during the Q1 earnings call.

"We don't have the resilience that we're known for related to that. We know what the drivers of that are," he said.

Bastian promised, during the same call, to fix the issues that were leading to cancellations.

"While this will take a little bit of time to work through, we're partnering with our pilots and union leadership to ensure we deliver the reliability that Delta is known for. Reliability and experience go hand in hand, and we're continuing to invest for our customers," he added.

Leff, however, is not as optimistic that the airline's issue with its pilots will be solved soon.

"The Delta pilots contract becomes amendable on December 31, 2026. The last negotiation took nearly four years from opening to ratification (25 months of active bargaining after excluding the pandemic suspension). So this may not be resolved soon. It’s also strong bargaining leverage in negotiations," he wrote.

Restaurant giant quietly closes locations across major brands

Fernanda Tronco — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 20:00:00 GMT

A well-known restaurant operator has quietly been shrinking the footprint of several of its brands, with some once-expansive chains now operating far fewer locations than they did just a few years ago.

The latest closure involves a high-end steakhouse in a major U.S. city, where a longtime location has shut its doors and is already expected to make way for a new restaurant concept. The move follows a series of closures involving the same chain and comes as its parent company continues to reshape an extensive portfolio of restaurant brands.

Founded in 1981, Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse is a fine-dining American steakhouse operating 14 locations across the U.S. The chain has been owned by Landry's Inc. since 2019, when the company acquired Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse and Del Frisco's Grille as part of its expansion into upscale dining.

Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse continues restaurant closures in 2026

Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse has closed its restaurant at 888 Boylston St. in Boston's Back Bay after roughly eight years in the neighborhood.

The location, which opened in 2018, was one of two Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse restaurants in the Boston area. The chain's remaining Boston location is in the Seaport neighborhood, according to its website.

The Boylston Street property is not expected to remain vacant for long. Din Tai Fung, the Taiwanese dumpling chain, is seeking to open its first Massachusetts restaurant at the location, although the proposal still requires approval from Boston officials and an opening date has not been announced, according to Corbett Restaurant Group.

Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse owner has closed other restaurants

The Boston closure follows other Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse shutdowns in recent years, including locations in Los Angeles, California, in 2025 and Dunwoody, Georgia, in 2024.

The chain's parent company has also closed restaurants across several of its other brands.

Recent Landry's-owned restaurant closures include:

Morton's The Steakhouse: Closed a West Palm Beach, Florida, restaurant in May 2026 and a Baltimore Inner Harbor location in January 2026, The Palm Beach Post and CBS News reported.
Joe's Crab Shack: Now operates 14 restaurants, down from its peak of 140 locations in 2014, News10 ABC noted.
Landry's Seafood House: Closed its oldest restaurant in Katy, Texas, in December 2025, Chron reported.
Oceanaire Seafood Room: Closed its Galleria Mall location in Houston, Texas, in December 2025 after two decades, Chron confirmed.
Houlihan's: Now lists 22 locations, down from 29 at the end of 2024, TheStreet reported.
Del Frisco's Grille: Closed its Center City Philadelphia restaurant in July 2025, according to 6abc Philadelphia.

Landry's has also replaced its restaurants with other concepts instead of completely shutting them down.

Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse owner closes another restaurant.

Yuliya Taba / Getty Images

Why Landry's is closing restaurants

Landry's operates a broad collection of restaurant concepts, spanning steakhouses, seafood restaurants, casual dining, and other hospitality businesses. Its portfolio includes nearly 50 brands, enabling the company to evaluate individual restaurants and properties rather than treating every location the same.

Landry's has not publicly attributed every recent closure to one specific factor. However, the company's continued trimming of locations comes as restaurant operators across the country face higher operating costs, changing consumer spending habits, and increased competition.

Here's some of my previous coverage of restaurant closures:

The environment can make it more difficult for individual restaurants to justify remaining open, particularly when sales are not strong enough to offset labor, food, rent, and other operating expenses.

Restaurants are also dealing with higher prices. Food away from home increased 3.4% over the 12 months ending July 2026, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

At the same time, consumers have become more selective about dining out as restaurant prices have risen. Industry data from Circana showed restaurant traffic declined 0.3% in 2025 compared to the prior year, with a 0.5% bump in the fourth quarter.

This highlights that while modest growth is expected to continue through 2026, expansion will likely remain uneven across the industry.

What this means for Landry's future

For Landry's, the size of its portfolio allows it to close less viable locations while continuing to operate the broader brand. It can also potentially replace a restaurant with another concept that it believes is better suited to the property and local market, an advantage many smaller restaurant companies may not have.

Landry's used this approach across parts of its portfolio. The company has steadily closed Joe's Crab Shack, McCormick & Schmick's, and Oceanaire Seafood Room locations, with some properties being replaced by other restaurant concepts, SeafoodSource reported.

The shutdowns do not necessarily signal that Landry's is abandoning its restaurant business. Instead, they point to the company continuing to reshape a large and diverse portfolio, retaining locations and concepts that make sense while allowing other properties to close or transition to different concepts.

For Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse, the Boston closure is another example of that strategy playing out at the individual-location level. The brand continues to operate elsewhere, while the former Back Bay space moves on to a new restaurant concept.

Dow Jones bank stock hits record high on surprise jobs report

Aditya Raghunath — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 19:17:00 GMT

The latest jobs report gave Wall Street another reason to bet big on America's largest bank.

Shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. are trading near all-time highs at the time of writing, helping lift the Dow Jones Industrial Average to record levels in August 2026.

The Dow 30 bank stock touched a fresh all-time high this week, even as the labor market lost 23,000 jobs last month.

The job losses drove concerns over inflation lower, as the Fed will most likely hold interest rates at the next meeting.

For a bank that has spent the past year warning about global risks, despite beating its own targets, the rally says as much about JPMorgan's (JPM) underlying business as it does about the labor market.

Here is what is driving the move, and why investors keep coming back to this Dow 30 stock.

Softer labor numbers lift key Dow 30 stock JPMorgan Chase

Compared to most other economic data points, a healthy jobs market matters more to a bank.

Basically, it raises the demand for loans across verticals such as housing and automobiles. It also helps banks keep delinquency rates lower and expand profit margins consistently.

Analysts were keeping a close watch on the July jobs report, CNBC noted, given rising oil prices driven by the war in Iran. The Dow Jones consensus projected an addition of 83,000 jobs in July, which could have forced the Fed to hike interest rates.

Despite an unemployment rate of more than 4%, consumer spending remains resilient in the U.S.

More JPMorgan:

JPMorgan Consumer and Community Bank CEO Marianne Lake emphasized that link at the Morgan Stanley US Financials Conference in June. She said the consumer "remains resilient," pointing to stable spending, manageable debt levels, and solid card usage.

CEO Jamie Dimon has echoed this view, while also cautioning against complacency. Speaking at the Bernstein conference in May, he said the bank tracks credit risk "through the cycle," not quarter to quarter, because a downturn always eventually arrives.

Still, for now, the data back up the optimism.

Lake noted that JPMorgan's own card charge-off rate, essentially the share of card balances the bank writes off as unpaid, is running at the low end of its guided range this year.

JPM stock rides a trading and deal-making boom

Beyond the jobs data, JPMorgan's second-quarter results give investors plenty to like.

The bank posted net income of $16.9 billion and earnings of $6.14 per share, with return on tangible common equity at 23%.
Revenue climbed 15% year over year, and the bank's Markets and Investment Banking arm led the way.
Investment banking fees jumped 30% from a year earlier, fueled by large stock offerings and a wave of merger deals closing faster than expected.
The Equities trading desk had an especially strong stretch, with revenue up 86% year over year.

Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Barnum said the quarter benefited from some deals getting pulled forward, but added that the pipeline "is actually quite robust" heading into the second half of the year.

Dimon was blunter about the current good conditions: "It's getting close to as good as it gets. We just don't know how long it's going to last."

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon remains cautious about near-term growth.

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Why this bank stock beat expectations again

JPMorgan's size gives it an edge that smaller banks cannot match.

Its deposit base, branch network and trading business all work together, letting it capture additional revenue during bull markets and absorb losses more easily during economic downturns.

The bank's capital position backs that up.

Its standardized common equity tier one ratio, a key measure of a bank's financial cushion, stood at 14.1% last quarter, among the strongest of its peers.
The board raised the quarterly dividend to $1.65 per share starting in the third quarter.
Management also raised its full-year guidance, now expecting net interest income of roughly $105.5 billion for 2026, up from earlier forecasts, driven largely by stronger deposit balances.

Barnum summed up the quarter: Results indicated "exceptional performance principally through the lens of like returns."

Is JPM stock still undervalued?

Dimon has repeatedly flagged risks that go well beyond interest rates and jobs data, including the war in Ukraine, tension in the Middle East, and growing government deficits around the world.

He has also warned that banks, including his own, may be "over earning" right now, since both trading volumes and credit performance are unusually strong at the same time. History suggests that this combination does not last forever.

According to consensus data compiled from Tikr.com:

Analysts tracking JPM stock forecast adjusted earnings per share to expand from $19.73 in 2025 to $30.27 in 2030.
If JPM stock is priced at 12x forward earnings, which is in line with its historical mean, it should trade around $365 in early 2030, similar to the current price.

Out of 16 analysts covering the Dow 30 bank stock, 10 recommend “Buy,” and six recommend “Hold.” The average JPM stock price target is $376, indicating an upside potential of 3% from current levels.

Even so, for now, a resilient labor market and a booming Wall Street business are giving JPMorgan, and the broader Dow Jones Industrial Average, plenty of reason to keep climbing.

Jim Cramer says one stock hitting new highs is still a screaming buy

Mwangi Enos — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 18:47:00 GMT

Jim Cramer fired a triple buy call Aug. 11 on the "Mad Money" Lightning Round. It came for a stock most people still have not heard of.

He backed it up with four words that tell you exactly why. Let’s see where he finds that conviction call.

[Buy, buy, buy]. What a quarter they had.

Hinge Health (HNGE) has surged 85.83% year to date, according to Yahoo Finance. That's after hitting a fresh all-time high of $93.13 on Aug. 10.

On top of that, Hinge reported record second-quarter 2026 results on Aug. 4, growing revenue 53% year over year to $213 million, tripling free cash flow to nearly $100 million, and raising full-year guidance.

Then it announced a $105 million acquisition to expand into gastrointestinal care. For a company most investors know nothing about, the numbers behind the business are genuinely impressive.

What Hinge Health actually does and why the market is paying attention

Hinge Health was founded in 2014 by Daniel Perez and Gabriel Mecklenburg, both of whom had personal experiences with musculoskeletal (MSK) injuries and the frustrating recovery process that followed.

The company built an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platform that delivers automated, personalized MSK care — covering chronic pain, acute injury, and post-surgical rehabilitation — at scale through enterprise employers and health plans.

More Jim Cramer:

The business model targets the MSK market from the employer side, not the consumer side.

Corporations and health plans pay Hinge Health to provide their covered populations with digital physical therapy and care management, reducing downstream medical costs on conditions that are among the most expensive to treat in U.S. health care.

As of June 30, 2026, Hinge Health serves 2,929 clients, up 24% year over year, including more than half of the Fortune 100, according to its Q2 earnings release. The Last Twelve Months (LTM) calculated billings reached $861.8 million, up 52% year over year.

The Hinge Health Q2 results that made Cramer say "what a quarter"

The second-quarter financial performance was strong across every metric that matters for a growth company.

Revenue of $213 million grew 53% year over year (YoY).
Non-GAAP operating income of $61.5 million more than doubled YoY
Non-GAAP operating margin expanded to 29% from 19% in Q2 2025.
Free cash flow of $99.6 million grew 3x from $32.6 million in the prior year period, with a free cash flow margin of 47%.
Source: Hinge Health Second-Quarter 2026 Results

The free cash flow acceleration is the detail that stands out most to me.

Why? A company growing revenue 53% while simultaneously tripling free cash flow and expanding operating margins is demonstrating genuine business leverage.

That’s the kind that makes growth look sustainable rather than bought. Full-year 2026 guidance was raised to $856 million to $860 million, reflecting 46% year-over-year growth at the midpoint.

Non-GAAP income from operations guidance was raised to $236 million to $244 million, representing 101% year-over-year growth. For Q3, the company guided revenue of $223 million to $225 million, up 45% year over year.

Hinge Health Migraine Care Program, launched in April 2026, already has more than 450 clients signed up and covers more than 5 million lives.

Avishek Das/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Hinge expands beyond musculoskeletal care

The most strategically interesting part of Hinge Health's 2026 story is not the core MSK business that is performing well. It is the platform expansion into adjacent conditions.

First, its Migraine Care Program, launched in April 2026, already has more than 450 clients signed up and covers more than 5 million lives, according to The Motley Fool Q2 2026 earnings call transcript.

That adoption speed for a new product line is proof that the existing enterprise client base is willing to expand its relationship with Hinge Health across conditions.

Second, the Cylinder Health acquisition, confirmed the same day as Q2 results, extends the platform into gastrointestinal care. The $105 million cash deal brings nearly 100 enterprise clients, 2 million covered lives, and partnerships with two of the three largest pharmacy benefit managers, as well as three of the top five health plans by self-insured market share.

The strategic logic is compelling. GI conditions affect approximately one in four U.S. adults and represent $135 billion in annual medical spending. A surprising 69% of U.S. counties lack a gastroenterologist, creating the same access gap MSK care has, according to a Hinge Health report.

Chronic GI issues frequently co-occur with the musculoskeletal and migraine conditions Hinge Health already treats. An integrated multi-condition platform in a single app — targeted for 2027 — makes the enterprise value proposition significantly broader.

What the Hinge Health buyback expansion tells you

The board approved a $300 million increase to the share repurchase program on July 29, bringing total authorized repurchases to approximately $496.5 million, according to the Q2 earnings report. Hinge has already repurchased $196.5 million in shares.

I think for a company growing 50%-plus with 47% free cash flow margins, aggressively buying back stock signals confidence in the business trajectory.

It also means the dilution risk that plagues many growth companies is being actively managed. Those are a few more reasons to entertain that buy call.

Cramer's triple-buy call on a stock up 85% year to date reflects his read that Q2 results and the expansion into migraine and GI care represent a business compounding faster than its market position implies.

The numbers on Aug. 4 gave him the evidence. The Cylinder acquisition gave him the platform story. Put together, I see the case building for Hinge Health as more than a niche digital health name.

IRMAA cliff can wreck a Roth-to-traditional conversion

Damilola Esebame — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 18:17:00 GMT

Every dollar moved from a traditional IRA into a Roth counts as ordinary income on the federal return for that year. For anyone within two years of Medicare eligibility, that income spike can trigger a surcharge adding $1,148 to $6,936 per person in annual costs.

Roth conversion transactions surged 41% in the first quarter of 2026 compared with the prior year, according to Fidelity's retirement analysis, meaning a growing number of pre-retirees may be headed toward that hit.

The surcharge is called IRMAA, the Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount, and it arrives two full years after the conversion year. Every dollar of a Roth conversion counts as ordinary taxable income in the year it occurs, IRS Publication 590-A confirmed.

How a Roth conversion inflates your Medicare premiums

A traditional individual retirement account holder who leaves funds in the account avoids IRMAA risk on that balance entirely, because no conversion triggers taxable income.

Crossing a threshold by a single dollar triggers the full surcharge for that tier across every month of the year, Donna LeValley reported at Kiplinger.

The surcharge also applies per person on Medicare, so both spouses pay it individually if both are enrolled in the program.

"For large conversions, factor in an additional $2,000 to $8,000 or more in annual Medicare costs," tax advisory firm SDO CPA explained.

The 2026 IRMAA thresholds pre-retirees need to track

The standard 2026 Medicare Part B premium is $202.90 per month, and IRMAA surcharges stack on top of that baseline, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) confirmed in its November 2025 announcement.

The first cliff begins at a lower income level than many people approaching retirement expect, particularly for single filers.

For married couples filing jointly, 2026 IRMAA surcharges begin when modified adjusted income exceeds $218,000, triggering additional Medicare costs.

Couples earning $218,000 or less pay no surcharge, with the standard Part B premium set at $202.90 monthly.

Income from $218,001 to $274,000 adds $81.20 monthly for Part B and $14.50 for Part D per person.

Single filers face the first IRMAA tier at $109,000 of modified adjusted gross income, up from $106,000 in 2025, a 2.8% inflation adjustment, according to the CMS 2026 fact sheet.

Pre-retirees who convert at 63 or 64 face a timing trap because the two-year lookback places conversion income at the point they first enroll in Medicare, Income Lab reported.

The right annual amount "is the one that fits your tax bracket and your IRMAA comfort level," certified financial planner James Brewer wrote in Forbes.

Traditional IRA holders face a slower version of the same trap

Someone who keeps $500,000 in a traditional IRA and begins required minimum distributions at 73 sees taxable income grow at a measured, predictable pace, IRS Publication 590-B showed.

A required minimum distribution alone rarely triggers IRMAA, but Social Security, pension income, and part-time earnings can push total Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) past the $109,000 single-filer cliff by the late 70s.

Andy Barton, a certified financial planner at Boldin Advisors, explained in a Boldin Q&A session that pre-retirees often misunderstand when the IRMAA lookback period begins applying to their income decisions.

More Medicare/Medicaid:

"The thing to remember about IRMAA is that it's not based on your current year of income. It has a 2-year income look-back in it," Barton said. "So, if you're on Medicare today, in 2026, they're actually looking at income from 2024 in order to determine today's IRMAA amount."

The key difference is control: a Roth converter chooses the year and the amount, making IRMAA exposure more predictable.

A traditional IRA holder who defers that decision hands the timing to the RMD schedule, where the annual taxable amount is mandatory and grows whether markets cooperate or not.

How to size each year's conversion around the IRMAA cliff

The fill-the-bracket approach that many planners use for Roth conversions can backfire when the IRMAA threshold sits below the top of your tax bracket.

For a married couple with $170,000 in base income, the 24% bracket extends to $403,550, but the first IRMAA cliff arrives at $218,000, based on CMS data.

Converting $48,000 fills the gap between base income and the IRMAA line without triggering any surcharges on either spouse's premiums.

A $150,000 conversion would push the couple's MAGI to $320,000, landing them in the $274,001–$342,000 IRMAA tier at roughly $5,770 per year in additional Medicare surcharges.

Roth conversion planning requires annual recalibration rather than a one-time calculation, certified financial planner Chris Reddick of Chris Reddick Financial Planning explained.

Reddick's framework treats each annual conversion amount as constrained by two ceilings, the federal tax bracket and the next IRMAA tier, with the lower of the two setting the conversion ceiling.

The 2026 IRMAA thresholds could raise Medicare costs sharply, making retirement income and Roth conversion timing critical for pre-retirees.

PeopleImages / Getty Images

The surcharge is a variable, not an afterthought

Reddick noted that the math behind a Roth conversion changes from age 63 to age 66, as Medicare premiums and required minimum distributions alter your income each year.

A single year of first-tier surcharges can still net out positive against decades of distribution-year taxes, a trade-off that Brewer's Forbes IRMAA framework treats as the comparison retirees should make explicit.

Reddick's and Brewer's analyses converge on one point: the IRMAA surcharge belongs inside the conversion model itself, not as a post-conversion surprise.

Outdoor retail giant permanently closes stores, and it’s working

Nina Zdinjak — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 17:07:00 GMT

My husband and I went for a one-hour ATV ride through the woods the other day, and the sheer thrill was unlike anything else. It is quite different from exploring the rough terrain in a Nissan Terrano, because an enclosed SUV keeps you comfortable and secure, but open-air motorsports offer a higher level of freedom.

During the pandemic, a lot of people recognized that exact rush, flocking to showrooms seeking socially distanced and liberating outdoor recreation. In 2020 and 2021, there was a significant surge in motorcycle and ATV sales.

However, despite the demand, the market also saw many shutdowns of production and assembly plants along with reduced parts supply, according to Fortune Business Insights. Then, as travel resumed, the market faced severe post-pandemic supply chain constraints and a sharp normalization in consumer demand.

By 2025, total U.S. retail sales of new motorcycles and scooters dropped 7.6% year-over-year, while ATV sales fell 3.5%, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC).

Yet, for the nation's largest powersports retailers, this post-COVID cooling off hasn't just been a headache — it has triggered a radical operational shift. Rather than chasing raw unit volume, RideNow Group (NASDAQ: RDNW), previously known as RumbleOn, quietly shuttered five underperforming locations to improve profitability.

RideNow closes 5 stores, improves operating profits

RideNow reported its second quarter earnings on Aug. 11, disclosing revenue of $296.8 million, down from $299.9 million in the same quarter of 2025. The powersports retailer reported that the decline was driven by the closure of five stores.

The decrease in revenue "was predominantly driven by our store consolidation efforts" with "operating 5 fewer stores,” Executive VP & CFO Joshua Barsetti said during the earnings call.

Despite operating fewer stores, the dealership group achieved a 3% year over year higher same-store revenue of $291.5 million, and its adjusted EBITDA rose to $20.5 million, a 19.2% increase year over year.

RideNow also recorded a net income of $6.5 million, which compares to a net loss of $32.2 million.

“By prioritizing strategic execution and continuous improvement, both in our stores and across our corporate support center, we are driving the positive momentum reflected in our results today. Our balanced tactical plan combines near-term operational improvements with structural changes to advance our long-term strategic direction, ultimately creating sustained value for our shareholders,” said CEO Michael Quartieri.

RideNow previously announced these closures amid revenue declines

For 2024, RideNow reported total revenue of $1.21 billion, down from $1.36 billion in 2023. Its gross profit also declined to $314.3 million, from $359.9 million in the prior year.

However, amid these declines, the retailer also posted a significant loss reduction, with net loss mounting to $78.6 million, compared to $215.5 million in 2023.

In its annual report, the company announced potential closures.

More Retail:

“Our strategic plan includes leveraging our nationwide network of dealerships, using our proprietary RideNow Cash Offer technology to grow our pre-owned inventory, reducing our cost structure, and rationalizing our retail footprint by acquiring new retail locations and closing or consolidating existing retail locations,” the company stated.

RideNow warned that closings or consolidations of existing retail locations may not result in immediate cost savings.

RideNow results improved following these closures

Industrywide, 2025 was challenging for the Powersports market.

“The Powersports market closed 2025 under continued pressure, as elevated interest rates, cautious consumer spending, and ongoing normalization from post-pandemic pricing weighed on values across most segments. Seasonal declines were more pronounced in discretionary and warm-weather categories, while work-oriented and winter-focused segments showed greater stability,” reported Black Book.

For RideNow, however, 2025 showed first signs of improvements, suggesting the closures made a positive impact on the company’s operations.

By closing five stores and consolidating another three into its larger multi-brand stores, the company achieved the following year-over-year improvements:

Adjusted EBITDA: Totaled $46.2 million, a 40.4% increase over fiscal 2024.
Same-store units sold: Increased 3.9% in Q3 and 7.7% in Q4. The Q3 gain marked our first period of growth since the post-pandemic peak.
Same-store revenue: Increased 0.6% in Q3 and 6.3% in Q4.
Same-store gross profit: Grew by 1.8%, 12.0%, and 13.8% in the second, third, and fourth quarters, respectively.
Source: RideNow Annual Report 2025

“This momentum proves that our turnaround is taking hold and gives me immense confidence in our strategy, our team, and our future,” the company stated.

RideNow (once known as RumbleOn) closes five stores, improving operating profits.

Pipat Yapathanasap / Getty Images

Motorcycles and scooters dominate the powersports vehicle industry

Every motorsport vehicle has its own ups and downs, and each has its own unique purpose and provides a special kind of kick. That’s why there are so many to choose from, depending on the activity, terrain and weather you need it for. The popularity and demand also varies.

In the first quarter of 2026, sales of new motorcycles and scooters increased by 4.2%, while ATV sales grew 2.5% year over year among leading brands, according to data from American Motorcycle Dealer.

More precisely, motorcycles and scooters accounted for 74.7% of total new-unit sales through Q1, and ATVs represented 25.3%.


Vehicle Type	General Type	2026	2025	Unit Change	% Change
Motorcycle	Scooter	1,743	2,250	-507	-22.5
Motorcycle	On-Hwy	63,308	58,708	4,600	7.8
Motorcycle	Dual	16,149	15,498	651	4.2
Motorcycle	Off-Hwy	29,870	30,131	-261	-0.9
Motorcycle	Total	111,070	106,587	4,483	4.2
ATV	ATV	37,613	36,681	932	2.5
Total	Grand Total	148,683	143,368	5,415	3.8

Table and data source: American Motorcycle Dealer

Powersports industry trends and what these closures mean for the company

According to May research from McKinsey & Company, U.S. consumers are immediately scaling back discretionary purchases. Notably, even affluent households are aggressively slashing "nice-to-have" expenses as budgets tighten.

Importantly, buying an expensive vehicle is just the first expense. The maintenance is what might be making some potential buyers, like myself, turn away,

“The high cost of powersports vehicles is a significant market restraint. These vehicles, particularly those equipped with advanced technologies and premium features, often come with hefty price tags that are not affordable for the average consumer…Ongoing maintenance, repair costs, and insurance premiums further increase the total cost of ownership, making these vehicles a luxury rather than a necessity during periods of unstable disposable income,” points out StraitsResearch.

Powersports vehicles fall under discretionary spending, just like recreational boats for example. I’ve recently reported how these pressures and shifts in consumer spending have forced the largest US boating retailer, West Marine, to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closed over 90 stores.

While in retail, closing stores can signal trouble or impending bankruptcy, RideNow Group’s closures suggest a turnaround strategy that is yielding results.

By closing five unproductive locations, they eliminated real estate overhead and drove nearby shoppers into remaining stores. This boosted operating profits, and that is why the company has not reported any new closings this year.

31-year-old restaurant brand faces shutdown

Daniel Kline — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 16:22:35 GMT

In my neighborhood, a successful restaurant that did a massive weekend brunch business closed over a lease dispute with the owner of its building. The restaurant was willing to pay an increase, but not as much as the landlord wanted.

That happened right before the Covid pandemic, and the location still sits empty. The restaurant, whose owners had promised it would reopen elsewhere, still has not made a comeback.

It's a familiar story in cities around the country, where restaurant operators can find themselves competing against landlords seeking higher rents when leases expire.

In hot markets such as Miami, restaurant operators are even putting their leases up for sale.

“There are a lot of people looking for second-generation restaurants,” Fabio Faerman, a listing agent for real estate, told The Real Deal. “The tenant or the landlord of a restaurant that is closing can ask for key money. And [a new operator] is willing to pay for it.”

That's a positive development where both parties win, and consumers benefit from a new restaurant opening.

Not all lease transfers happen that smoothly, and an ugly battle has been going on in New York over the fate of three high-profile restaurants operated by Ark Restaurants.

Bryant Park brands face eviction

Ark Restaurants operates three separate brands in New York City's Bryant Park — Bryant Park Grill, Bryant Park Café, and The Porch at Bryant Park. All three currently face eviction, with Ark's stay expected to expire in October.

"In 2025, the private nonprofit that oversees Bryant Park attempted to evict Ark Restaurants from the park-adjacent restaurant locations, announcing at the time that Jean-Georges Restaurants and Seaport Entertainment Group had won a bid to operate the venues. But required approvals from the city’s Parks & Recreation and the New York Public Library were never obtained," Nation's Restaurant News reported.

More Restaurants:

The restaurants remain open, as both sides have filed legal action.

In July, however, the court sided with the landlord to evict the Ark concepts, though a stay was granted pending an appeal.

"As it stands, Ark is continuing to operate the restaurants on that stay, and the company is seeking an extension, a reversal of the eviction decision or further relief. But, without those options, Ark said 'the company will be required to vacate these premises and cease operations at these locations upon the expiration of the stay, currently expected to occur on or about October 16, 2026,'" NRN reported.

Ark has continued to operate its Bryant Park restaurants.

Shutterstock

Ark comments on Bryant Park restaurants

Ark Restaurants CEO Michael Weinstein commented on the situation during the company's third-quarter earnings call.

"The situation in Bryant Park, we think the litigation is going kind of well for us. There's not necessarily certainty about us renegotiating a new lease, but the judge in the last hearing did award us the right to monetary damages on a breach of lease by Bryant Park Corporation," he said.

Weinstein also noted that there is a hearing to set a trial date in September. "Monetary damages on that could be significant," he added.

A financial victory, however, does not mean the restaurants will stay open.

"That does not mean that we're necessarily going to get a new lease. That's going to be a negotiation at some point. We hope with the Parks Department and the proper people at Bryant Park Corporation, but those monetary damages could be significant and hopefully give us an opening for a negotiation," he said.

The most recent legal decision can be found here on the New York Courts website.

Bryant Park is big business

The Bryant Park Company (originally the Bryant Park Restoration Corporation) was founded in 1980 and by 1983 had proposed an $18 million redevelopment of the park that included a security force and “huge glass restaurant,” according to New York Magazine's Grub Street.

The restaurant has proven to be big business.

"Ark has been involved since 1995 when it opened the Bryant Park Grill. It’s one of the country’s top-grossing restaurants, and combined revenues for its three park businesses — which also include the Porch and Bryant Park Café — amount to $28 million a year," the website shared.

Weinstein alleges that the deal to lease the properties to Jean-Georges Restaurants and Seaport Entertainment Group will be for less money.

“You’re doing a deal with Seaport, you’re throwing out 250 employees, and you’re accepting at least $1.2 million, $1.4 million less in rent. Who does that?” Weinstein told Grub Street. “It’s a disaster for the park.”

BPC's attorney shared a brief statement after the court decision to allow the eviction.

“We are very happy with the decision,” Corporation lawyer Gil Feder told The New York Post.

Walmart is selling a $549 15.6-inch laptop for 51% off

Annie O'Sullivan — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 16:15:00 GMT

TheStreet aims to feature only the best products and services. If you buy something via one of our links, we may earn a commission.

Why we love this deal

For students looking ahead to the start of school in just a few short weeks, school supplies are at the top of your shopping list, and there's nothing that will benefit or help you more than a decent laptop. Handwritten notes will always have a fond place in our heart, but when it comes to high school and college, more often than not, a laptop will serve you far more in the long run. It allows you to take content down faster, organize it far better, and back up any notes, documents, and other files so you still have all you need on the off chance your device fizzles out due to an accident or a spill. With that in mind, a laptop, one that is actually built to last, is well worth the money, and you can expect to pay a few hundred dollars when it comes time to purchase. However, if you are on a budget, there are always some great options, like the Hyyuo 15.6-Inch Laptop, available for more affordable prices thanks to seasonal sales.

The Hyyuo 15.6-Inch Laptop is on sale for 51% off as part of a Walmart Flash deal going on right now. The $549 device is marked down with a special coupon to take off even more, saving you $280. You can now get the 15.6-inch computer perfect for both students and those who have long graduated for only $269 during this special sale.

Hyyuo 15.6-Inch Laptop, $269 (was $549) at Walmart

Why do shoppers love it?

With a 15.6-inch diagonal screen, this laptop is the standard size for most devices these days, balancing workspace room with portability very well. The full HD 1920x1080 resolution in-plane switching (IPS) display provides crisp graphics, sharp, consistent images, and bright colors with the high resolution and technology that provides a wide viewing angle for a more pleasant viewing experience. It accurately reproduces colors and images, whether you're streaming a TV show or finishing up a spreadsheet.

Equipped with the Pentium Intel Gold dual-core processor, the laptop provides reliable performance at a more affordable price. That, in combination with the 16 gigabyte random access memory (GB RAM) and 256 GB solid state drive (SSD) make the computer a multi-tasking machine that operates quickly with little to no lagging and has ample storage space to keep your files, photos, and documents stowed away and easy to find when you need them.

The 5000 milliampere-hour battery delivers about five hours of battery life per full charge, which isn't as impressive as other more expensive models but for the price is fairly good. Less ideal for traveling but great for the busy student jumping between classes and buildings, they can easily plug in when the battery life gets low.

Overall, the laptop balances a large-screen viewing experience with practical performance, and makes taking notes, joining virtual classes and meetings, writing up papers, and completing other work very easy. Weighing about 3.8 pounds, it runs on a Windows 11 operating system, is equipped with HDMI and DP ports, and comes with a Type-C charger included with your purchase.

Details to know

Processor: Pentium Gold 6500Y
Storage: 256 GB SSD.
Operating system: Windows 11.
Weight: 3.8 pounds.

Although shoppers wish it had a longer-lasting battery life, it's a great device overall and does exactly what it promises. It "gets the job done" and works great for exactly what you need it to. It's easy to set up and comes with everything you need.

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Laptops don't need to cost you thousands of dollars in order to get something of quality. For those who want something long-lasting and basic, the Hyyuo 15.6-Inch Laptop is the purchase for you.

Jim Cramer says Nvidia now signals something much bigger

Moz Farooque — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 16:13:00 GMT

Jim Cramer was supposed to be on vacation.

Instead, the MadMoney host was looking at three critical market signals that, in his view, can tell investors all they need to know.

Two of them were the usual suspects: bonds and oil.

The third, though, was Nvidia (NVDA), a surprise, to say the least.

That's where Cramer’s argument gets a lot more interesting.

Cramer is increasingly treating the AI behemoth as more of a macro indicator than a conventional chip stock. Nvidia's at the center of an enormous spending cycle, and if the stock holds up, Cramer sees more than strength in just one stock.

He sees evidence that companies are still willing to spend aggressively on AI despite elevated rates and rising oil prices.

For now, Nvidia is giving him an encouraging signal.

For investors, that makes Nvidia stock a real-time read on whether the economy’s most powerful investment cycle is still accelerating.

Jim Cramer says Nvidia now reflects AI spending and broader economic momentum.

Noam Galai/Getty Images

Cramer is treating Nvidia like a macro indicator

In a recent episode of CNBC’s MadMoney, Cramer framed the market around three main questions.

Where are bonds? Where is oil? How is Nvidia doing?

The first couple of points were flashing caution. He pointed to the 30-year Treasury yield at 5.24%, arguing that elevated long-term rates could pressure the Fed toward tighter policy.

More Nvidia:

According to Investing’s Fed Rate Monitor tool, markets are effectively pricing a one-in-three chance of a Fed rate hike in September.

Moreover, oil was another negative as higher crude prices feed into inflation, weighing down the stock market’s ascent.

Due to the ongoing geopolitical tensions, oil prices have climbed roughly 5% over the past month, according to Yahoo Finance.

Then came Nvidia.

“How’s Nvidia? How’s the stock of Nvidia doing?"

According to Cramer, a substantial portion of the market is dependent on “the fortunes of Nvidia, the fortunes of AI, and the fortunes of the data center."

That said, here are some stats highlighting Nvidia’s outsized influence on the market.

Live data puts Nvidia’s market cap at around $5.47 trillion, slightly higher than Germany’s projected $5.45 trillion in 2026 GDP, and comfortably larger than those of Japan, India, and the U.K., according to the IMF.
According to Yahoo Finance, Nvidia was worth just $345 billion when ChatGPT launched in late 2022, meaning roughly $5.1 trillion has since been added.
According to Yahoo Finance, citing a Motley Fool report, Nvidia controls roughly 85% of the AI-chip market.
Nvidia has about $500 billion in AI-chip bookings, while its latest quarterly sales surged 85% to $81.6 billion. Before ChatGPT’s launch, Nvidia was generating around $27 billion in sales.
Yahoo Finance, IMF.

Nvidia has become bigger than the semiconductor cycle

Cramer went further in describing Nvidia’s tremendous influence as:

“The barometer for what might be as much as a third, some would say a half of the economy.”

Cramer’s broader point centers on economic exposure rather than just direct sales contribution, with Nvidia acting as a "shorthand".

The relentless AI buildout is driving spending through an unusually long chain spanning GPUs, servers, networking, memory, power generation, utilities, cooling, construction, data centers, cloud computing, financing, and software.

Companies outside the traditional technology sector are finding ways to participate in the spending boom.

Cramer mentioned Aramark, a food-services business, which has benefited from offering services around data centers.

His observation was that, “I don’t think people realize how important this data center theme has become.”

In essence, that makes Nvidia very different from a conventional chip leader.

Its tremendous demand environment serves as a real-time read on whether businesses are looking to commit significant sums to AI infrastructure.

So the “Nvidia Halo” effect is pretty real.

For example, in July 2026, according to Reuters, South Korean tech giant Naver jumped over 10% after Nvidia agreed to invest $1 billion to expand its AI data-center partnership. A more dramatic example came in September last year, when Intel stock skyrocketed 23% after Nvidia announced a $5 billion stake, according to Reuters.

Cramer still sees no clear top in AI data-center spending

Also, Cramer addressed the recurring concern that AI infrastructure spending will eventually peak.

“We often think that there has to be a top brewing in the data center concept. I still don’t see it.”

Much of Nvidia’s bull case hinges on the long-term durability of the entire data-center capital cycle. However, if we see hyperscalers rationalizing capex, utilization disappointments, or AI customers questioning expansion, Nvidia becomes the quickest place for that weakness to become visible.

Cramer argued he hasn’t seen that rollover yet.

Moreover, he singled out CoreWeave as a potential read-through, noting that its strong quarter could influence Nvidia.

That’s quite the observation, considering CoreWeave sits downstream from Nvidia. Robust utilization, backlog, and capacity expansion at AI cloud providers underscore the fact that Nvidia hardware is being absorbed into economically productive infrastructure.

On top of that, Cramer highlighted Nvidia’s $500 billion financing platform, which focuses on funding compute infrastructure.

He described the possibility of effectively “securitizing the wonder of compute,” noting that the concept barely existed several years ago but is now becoming increasingly important.

Put simply, that involves turning computing power into an investable asset, something BofA analysts talked about extensively in my recent coverage.

What Cramer’s call really means for Nvidia investors

Nvidia hasn’t replaced the traditional economic indicators in any way.

However, Cramer's thesis is that Nvidia might offer something GDP, CPI, and employment data cannot.

In essence, Nvidia stock represents a near-real-time signal of corporate willingness to continue spending on the economy's largest investment cycles.

As long as Nvidia continues delivering the goods, Cramer sees evidence that the AI infrastructure boom remains firmly intact despite pressure from rates and oil.

However, if Nvidia starts to weaken for fundamental reasons, the warning could extend far beyond a single chip stock.

Market at record highs — Nancy Tengler says to keep buying these names (16:38)

10-year-old travel company to liquidate after bankruptcy, all trips off

Veronika Bondarenko — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 15:31:15 GMT

It's a tough time to be an agency selling group tours to travelers, and the situation is particularly dire for travel agencies in the United Kingdom.

Trav Expert, Groupia, Salamander Voyages, Travel Bespoke, Regen Central, Set Sail Cruises, and Yourtravelshop.com are some of the names of British travel companies that shut down operations over no longer being able to bring in the necessary customer flow since the start of 2026.

The latest name to join that list is Firefly Holidays.

Launched out of the Abington town approximately 60 miles outside of London in Oxfordshire, the local travel firm was established in 2016 by selling high-end holidays to countries such as France, Italy, Spain, and Croatia, among others.

Firefly Holidays shuts down after 10 years, enters voluntary liquidation

As first reported by local press, Firefly Holidays has entered voluntary liquidation at the start of the month. The British term is the closest equivalent of a Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the U.S., indicating intent to close down and sell off any remaining assets without an attempt to restructure.

Stephen Mark Powell of London-based BTG Begbies Traynor has been appointed as the liquidator overseeing the process while the company website states that Firefly Holidays is "no longer taking bookings."

"It's been our absolute honour to help our customers experience amazing holidays and award-winning adventures," the pop-up reads further. "Now the Firefly team are taking our own road trip towards new destinations."

Firefly Holidays sold package tours to various ski resorts across Europe.

LAAX

Why so many travel agencies are shutting down this year

It is not immediately clear whether any customers had trips scheduled beyond the shutdown and will see their travel disrupted.

The statement further says that Firefly Holidays is "happy to help valued customers and new contacts with any travel questions and advice."

More Travel News:

The company advertised active holidays to various campgrounds and ski resorts in Europe and was included in the Sunday Times Best 100 Holidays round-up within the first year of launching in 2016.

Its motto was to "help independently minded people enjoy far more for much less."

More travel agencies that filed for bankruptcy in 2026:

AVG Travels: The Melbourne-based travel agency selling cheap vacation packages to travelers in Australia and New Zealand sent more than 200 travelers an email saying that the trips were canceled before entering bankruptcy in May 2026.
GoPlay Sports: In April 2026, the men’s basketball team of the University of Dallas was left without a planned trip to compete in the United Kingdom after Boston-based GoPlay Sports Tours LLC accepted two payments of $30,000 and then went unreachable.
Havantur: Havantur was forced to shut down its main European office in Franceat the start of 2026 after tourist numbers to the Caribbean country plummeted due to U.S. military actions in Venezuela and threats against the country.
Vegas Vacations and North America Destinations: Two travel agencies in the Canadian province of British Columbia, Vegas Vacations and North America Destinations, were shut down by regulators within a few days of each other in Jan. 2026 after multiple travelers complained of buying trips with invalid plane tickets and hotel bookings.

Amazon is selling a farmhouse storage cabinet with 4 drawers for just $70

Pauline Lacsamana — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 15:30:00 GMT

TheStreet aims to feature only the best products and services. If you buy something via one of our links, we may earn a commission.

Why we love this deal

It's not always easy to add extra storage to your space, especially when said space is on the small side. Places like bathrooms, hallways, entryways, or even kitchens are high up on the list of notoriously compact areas that can be tough to declutter and get organized. Luckily, there are compact storage cabinets out there for every space, and Amazon has one that shoppers say is great for bathrooms, closets, campers, and beyond.

The Vasagle Liry Farmhouse Storage Cabinet is an efficient organizer at Amazon, and it's currently on sale for just $70. Thanks to a limited-time discount, you can get the stylish storage upgrade for 22% off, which is an incredible deal.

Vasagle Liry Farmhouse Storage Cabinet, $70 (was $90) at Amazon

Mario Tama via Getty Images

Why do shoppers love it?

This storage cabinet measures 23.6 inches long, 11.8 inches wide, and 31.5 inches high. It's small enough to fit into tight corners and small rooms, but spacious enough to get you organized. It features a one-door cabinet with an adjustable shelf, along with four drawers that glide effortlessly, according to one reviewer.

The Rustic White colorway is on sale, while the Honey Brown is available at full price. Both capture the farmhouse aesthetic perfectly, but the Rustic White might be our favorite. Its neutral tone makes it much more versatile, blending into not just farmhouse-style spaces, but others as well. The wood top is just the icing on the cake, adding an extra bit of charm and warmth.

This piece requires assembly, and even though shoppers say it's easy to put together with clear instructions, there are a lot of pieces involved. However, one reviewer said they appreciated the attention to detail with the parts, highlighting the stickers that cover the cam locks as a "great little illusion to conceal the hardware."

Details to know

Dimensions: 23.6 inches long by 11.8 inches wide by 31.5 inches high.
Colors: Rustic White and Honey Brown.
Features: One-door cabinet and four drawers.

Amazon shoppers said it's a "solid" farmhouse-style cabinet that's sturdy and the perfect size for bathrooms, kitchens, laundry rooms, campers, closets, and more. One reviewer who bought the cabinet for their guest bathroom said it matched their decor perfectly. They added that "the solid wood look top makes it look like an expensive piece," and they get a lot of compliments on the piece of furniture.

Since the cabinet is so affordable, you might have a little extra left in your budget. If that's the case, take notes from one shopper who upgraded the cabinet with new knobs to help "dress it up." They also spray-painted the original handle to match the new accents.

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On sale for only $70, the Vasagle Liry Farmhouse Storage Cabinet is a beautiful addition to any home that adds not just storage but also style.

Wells Fargo resets Microsoft stock price target for 2026

Hillary Remy — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 15:18:13 GMT

Microsoft spent most of this year being punished for spending too much. The stock fell more than 20%. Analysts cut targets. The narrative shifted from AI winner to AI victim.

Wells Fargo was part of that story. In mid-July, it trimmed its own target to $625 from $650, nervous about how much capital was going out the door.

Then July 29 happened. Azure crossed $100 billion. The stock jumped nearly 9% in after-hours trading. And Wells Fargo analyst Michael Turrin just set the highest price target on Microsoft on Wall Street.

Wells Fargo sets a new Street-high target on Microsoft stock

Turrin raised his price target to $700 from $650 on Aug. 12 and kept his Overweight rating, according to TipRanks. No other major firm covering Microsoft has gone that high. The average across 35 analysts sits at $562. Wells Fargo is $138 above that. With the stock at $503.81, the new target implies roughly 39% upside.

Turrin put it simply. "Premium is justified." Microsoft got to AI enterprise first. Its grip on corporate software is deep enough that even competitors end up integrating with it. That combination, he said, earns a multiple the stock isn't getting right now. He ran it at 30 times forward earnings and landed at $700.

Turrin isn't pretending the risks don't exist. AWS and Google Cloud are not going away. Regulatory heat around Microsoft's cloud and AI dominance is real. The OpenAI relationship is expensive and complicated. And enterprise AI adoption could easily move slower than the current booking numbers imply.

He listed all of it. Then he said $700 anyway, as TheStreet reported.

What Azure crossing $100 billion actually changed

Wells Fargo cut the target in July because the AI spending looked like it might be running ahead of the revenue. Azure crossing $100 billion in annualized revenue and growing 43% in constant currency on July 29 was the answer to that concern.

Not just a round number — evidence that the infrastructure spend is producing real cloud acceleration.

More Microsoft:

Microsoft reported $4.74 in adjusted earnings per share on $90.01 billion in revenue for the quarter, beating the $4.24 and $87.63 billion consensus. The stock jumped.

Worth noting: a $3.2 billion gain on the Anthropic investment added $0.27 to diluted EPS. Part of the beat was one-time. But Azure's number and the guidance were what actually moved the conversation, and those are what Turrin is betting on with $700.

Azure at $100 billion matters for a second reason beyond the headline. It tells you the market for cloud AI services is large enough to absorb what Microsoft has been building.

The concern heading into earnings was that data center construction was running faster than enterprise demand could justify. The July 29 numbers pushed back on that. Intelligent Cloud revenue climbed 32% to $39.3 billion in a single quarter. That is not a business that looks like it is running out of customers.

Wells Fargo Microsoft target history shows how quickly the story changed

Wells Fargo cut to $625 from $650 in mid-July. It raised its Microsoft target back to $650 in late July after the company's Q4 earnings cleared the bar that investors had been nervous about. It cut again earlier over capital spending concerns. Then July 29 came, and now the target is $700, a new Street high, in six weeks.

That whipsaw reflects how unsettled this trade has been. Microsoft was down more than 20% for the year heading into earnings. The AI spending story had become a liability. One quarter didn't fix everything, but it shifted enough that Wells Fargo is now sitting $138 above the analyst average and calling the premium justified.

Azure at $100 billion matters for a second reason beyond the headline.

Tang/Getty Images

What Copilot and the broader Microsoft AI ecosystem add to the case

Turrin's note isn't just about Azure.

Microsoft's advantage is that it sells AI across a product base most enterprise customers already pay for. Copilot sits inside Microsoft 365. Azure AI services run inside cloud contracts. Security products are getting AI layered in.

The company doesn't need to convince customers to try something new. It needs to convince them to upgrade what they already use.

That is a different kind of sales motion than what most AI pure-plays are running. It is also more defensible. Switching costs inside Microsoft's enterprise stack are high.

A company that has standardized on Teams, SharePoint, Azure, and Dynamics is not easily pulled away by a competitor offering a cheaper AI assistant. Turrin is betting that stickiness turns into revenue growth as AI adoption inside those existing contracts keeps accelerating.

GitHub Copilot alone had 50 million users as of Microsoft's latest count, a number that has been climbing fast as developers standardize on AI-assisted coding. That product generates subscription revenue directly, separate from Azure usage.

It is exactly the kind of AI monetization that shows up in recurring revenue rather than one-time deals, and it is one of the reasons Turrin sees the premium as earned rather than speculative.

For investors watching Microsoft right now

The stock is still down more than 20% for the year. The capital expenditure line is still enormous. Full-year 2026 capex guidance sits between $130 billion and $145 billion. Microsoft is spending at a scale that would have seemed implausible three years ago, and the payoff is still not fully visible in free cash flow.

What has changed since July 29 is that the revenue side of the equation got strong enough to shift at least one major Wall Street firm from cautious to its highest target ever.

Whether that view spreads to the rest of the analyst community over the next couple of quarters depends on whether Azure keeps growing at 40%+ and whether Copilot monetization continues accelerating.

For investors watching Microsoft, the Wells Fargo note is the bullish case at its clearest. The bear case is still the capex.

The debate between them is probably not getting resolved before Microsoft reports its next quarter. Until then, the $140 gap between Wells Fargo's $700 and the rest of Wall Street's $562 average is the most honest picture of where the disagreement lives.

BofA sees Boeing's puzzling deal clearing path for bigger move

Tyler Bundy — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 15:03:00 GMT

Boeing’s decision to unload three aerospace businesses initially left Bank of America questioning the logic, but the bank now sees the deal as a way for the plane maker to sharpen its focus without abandoning the technologies it helped develop.

Boeing (BA) agreed on Aug. 10 to sell Wisk Aero, Insitu, and SkyGrid to Archer Aviation, giving the electric-aircraft company a collection of autonomous-flight, unmanned-aircraft, and air-traffic technology businesses.

Archer Aviation (ACHR) said the transaction would broaden its aerospace and defense platform while making Boeing a strategic shareholder and partner.

BofA changes its view on Boeing’s deal

Bank of America analyst Ronald Epstein called the transaction a “head scratcher at first” in a note given to TheStreet, but said the firm came away encouraged after looking more closely at what Boeing receives and what it gives up.

Boeing is expected to receive shares equal to 19.75% of Archer’s outstanding Class A stock at closing, subject to certain adjustments. The agreement also includes two warrants representing up to $200 million of additional Archer stock, with exercise prices of $13 and $17.88 per share, according to an Archer filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

That structure gives Boeing a sizable economic interest in the combined business, even after it hands over day-to-day control. Boeing and Archer also agreed to an intellectual-property cross-license, allowing Boeing to retain access to technology associated with Wisk, Insitu, and SkyGrid.

Epstein sees the combination as a way for Boeing to shed relatively high-cost businesses that sit outside its most important priorities while still maintaining exposure to its long-term potential. In the note, he said the divestitures should also eliminate distractions from Boeing’s other major programs.

Boeing agreed to sell Wisk Aero, Insitu, and SkyGrid to Archer Aviation.

Boeing could clear room for a bigger aircraft bet

BofA’s more interesting takeaway centers on where Boeing can put those freed-up resources, with Epstein pointing to both current production priorities and a potentially much larger aircraft project down the road.

The analyst said Boeing should be able to concentrate more heavily on ramping production of the 737 and 787 while continuing work on its space platforms and the F-47 fighter program.

Boeing has already been trying to increase output of its most important commercial aircraft. The company said in its second-quarter results that the 737 program began transitioning toward a production rate of 47 aircraft per month, while its commercial-airplane backlog stood at more than 6,200 jets valued at a record $597 billion.

More Boeing

BofA also sees a more speculative possibility further down the road. Epstein said removing the non-core assets could create capacity for Boeing to focus innovation on a new midsize airplane, potentially something resembling the long-discussed 797 or a blended-wing-body aircraft.

That possibility adds another layer to a transaction that initially appears to pull Boeing away from some advanced aviation projects. BofA instead sees a company narrowing where it puts its resources while keeping a financial and technological connection to the businesses it is selling.

BofA keeps its bullish Boeing stock outlook

Bank of America maintained its Buy rating and $270 price objective on Boeing, representing 15.5% upside from the $233.69 share price used in the Aug. 10 note.

The bullish rating comes with some near-term caution. BofA lowered its 2026 revenue estimate to $98.82 billion from $99.33 billion and widened its expected loss to $1.25 per share from 85 cents per share.

Epstein said the $270 target is based on normalized free cash flow of $11 per share and a valuation premium to the S&P 500. BofA believes that premium reflects strong demand for commercial jets and the expected ramp-up of the F-47 program.

The Archer deal fits into that thesis by narrowing Boeing’s operational focus while leaving it with meaningful exposure to the assets it is selling. If those businesses gain value under Archer, Boeing can participate through its equity stake and warrants while directing more attention toward the programs BofA believes should sit at the center of its strategy.

Roth catch-up mandate reshapes 401(k)s for high earners in 2026

Damilola Esebame — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 14:47:00 GMT

Your 401(k) catch-up contribution now works differently if you earn more than $150,000, under a change that took effect on Jan. 1, 2026.

Workers aged 50 and older who have relied on pre-tax catch-up deferrals to lower their current tax bill will lose that option entirely.

The shift stems from Section 603 of the SECURE 2.0 Act, which Congress passed in December 2022 but the IRS delayed by two years, from its original January 2024 effective date, through Notice 2023-62.

The provision forces high-earning workers to route all catch-up contributions into Roth accounts, meaning after-tax dollars with no immediate deduction.

The mandate applies to 401(k), 403(b), and governmental 457(b) plans, creating an immediate tax consequence for millions of workers.

The $150,000 wage threshold determines who loses the pre-tax catch-up option

The rule uses an income test tied to your prior-year W-2 wages reported under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act, CAPTRUST explained.

If your 2025 FICA wages from the sponsoring employer exceeded $150,000, your 2026 catch-up contributions must go into a Roth account.

Roth accounts tend to benefit earlier-career workers earning less, said Olga Ismail, head of retirement plans consulting at Provenance Wealth Advisors, according to CNBC.

We always recommend [Roth] for someone who’s on a low salary, typically the younger working folks.

The Internal Revenue Service raised that threshold from $145,000 to $150,000 on Nov. 13, 2025, when it published the 2026 contribution limits.

Future adjustments will be indexed for inflation, meaning the income cutoff will continue rising alongside wages over time.

Only wages from the employer sponsoring your plan count toward the threshold, excluding spousal income, side jobs, and investment returns, Fidelity reported.

Workers earning less than $150,000 retain full flexibility to direct their catch-ups into either traditional pre-tax or Roth accounts.

Immediate tax hit could reach $3,040 for workers at a combined 38% marginal rate

The lost deduction creates a concrete, near-term cost for every affected worker, and the amount depends on your marginal tax rate.

A worker in the 24% federal bracket contributing the full $8,000 catch-up would face about $1,920 in additional taxes, CAPTRUST’s wealth planning team calculated.

At a combined 38% marginal rate including state taxes, that cost climbs to approximately $3,040 on the $8,000 catch-up contribution.

The take-home pay difference between the old pre-tax catch-up and the new Roth requirement totals roughly $2,560 each year.

The gap widens for workers ages 60 to 63, because the $11,250 super catch-up pushes the immediate tax cost to about $4,275 at the same combined rate.

The new Roth catch-up rules could raise workers’ tax bills by thousands, with higher earners facing the steepest immediate costs.

Juliane Sonntag / Getty Images

Plans without a Roth option will block catch-ups entirely for high earners

The mandate creates a compliance problem for employers that have not added a Roth feature, and the consequences fall directly on affected employees.

If a plan does not offer Roth deferrals, workers earning above $150,000 cannot make catch-up contributions at all, CAPTRUST confirmed.

Most plans have already added the feature, with 95.6% of 401(k) plans offering Roth options as of the end of 2024, the Plan Sponsor Council of America found.

More Personal Finance:

That share rose from 89% in 2022 and 62% a decade earlier, reflecting steady adoption ahead of the mandate.

“Offering Roth as an option has become a best practice the last few years,” and due to the mandate for high earners, “we will continue to see Roth become commonplace,” Hattie Greenan, research director at the Plan Sponsor Council of America, told CNBC in December 2024.

The remaining 4.4% of plans without Roth options will lock out high-earning employees from making catch-up contributions starting Jan. 1, 2026, unless the plan sponsor adds a Roth feature.

Formal SECURE 2.0 plan amendments must be adopted by Dec. 31, 2026 for most calendar-year plans.

Employer match contributions remain pre-tax, regardless of the Roth mandate

One detail that often confuses workers is how this rule affects employer matching contributions, and the answer provides some clarity for savers.

The employer match on catch-up contributions remains pre-tax, even when the employee’s catch-up is mandated into a Roth account, CAPTRUST confirmed.

The tax treatment change applies only to the employee’s own contribution, leaving the employer’s side of the equation untouched by the mandate.

Payroll systems must now track employee wages against the $150,000 threshold and automatically designate qualifying catch-ups as Roth, Larson Gross noted.

The IRS designated 2026 as a “reasonable good faith” compliance period, giving employers limited flexibility to correct errors before stricter enforcement begins on Jan. 1, 2027.

The long-term case for Roth catch-ups depends on future tax rates in retirement

The forced Roth treatment costs money now, but qualified Roth 401(k) withdrawals in retirement are entirely tax-free, and Roth accounts have no required minimum distributions, Fidelity noted.

CAPTRUST's wealth planning team projected that $8,000 in annual contributions over five years, $40,000 in total, would grow at a 5% rate over 10 years to approximately $81,178.

Under Roth treatment, all gains and withdrawals from that balance would be available without any federal tax liability in retirement, the team calculated.

The mandate stops at the workplace plan line. SEP IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, and traditional or Roth IRAs all fall outside its scope, Eric Bronnenkant, head of tax at Edelman Financial Engines, confirmed. This means high earners who want a pre-tax catch-up still have channels open, just not inside their 401(k), 403(b), or 457(b).

Bank of America tweaks CoreWeave stock forecast after earnings

Moz Farooque — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 14:37:00 GMT

Nvidia-backed CoreWeave (CRWV) stock entered another earnings season with Wall Street looking for another quarter marred by heavy CapEx and losses.

Analysts were looking at $2.56 billion in sales with an adjusted loss of $1.41 per share.

Instead, CoreWeave delivered another sizeable double beat, delivering $2.58 billion in revenue, posted a smaller-than-expected loss, while raising its full-year outlook.

Consequently, as CoreWeave reported its Q2 2026 earnings after market hours on Tuesday, August 11, 2026, the stock experienced a tremendous pop.

According to Investing, the stock surged nearly 14% after hours, with Reuters reporting another 19% on August 12, having closed at $90.32 before earnings.

Following the strong snapback, CoreWeave stock is now up 21% for the month and 50% year-to-date, according to Seeking Alpha data.

CEO Mike Intrator called it “an exceptional quarter for CoreWeave", adding that the company “outperformed our plan across the board".

That was enough to force Wall Street to rethink its position in the AI giant.

Bank of America did just that after the print, changing multiple key forecasts while keeping one major call intact.

Bank of America revised CoreWeave forecasts after the AI cloud company’s earnings

TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP via Getty Images

Why Bank of America still sees major upside in CoreWeave

Bank of America came away from CoreWeave’s Q2 results confident in its growth trajectory.

More AI:

Consequently, the bank’s analysts reiterated their ‘Buy’ rating and a $140 price target, implying 30% upside after the stock’s post-earnings pop.

Q2 sales surged 112% year over year to $2.575 billion, slightly ahead of BofA’s $2.52 billion estimate. Operating margin reached 5%, compared to the Street’s 2.8% expectation, while the company posted a loss of $1.03 per share, narrower than BofA’s $1.16 loss estimate.

Perhaps the bigger signal came from capacity.

CoreWeave added 500 megawatts of active power during Q2, taking active capacity from 1 GW to 1.5 GW. Around 300 MW came online in June alone. As a result, management bumped its year-end active-power target to at least 1.85 GW, from 1.7 GW previously.

Power availability is viewed as a bridge between CoreWeave’s massive backlog and actual sales generation. For context, remaining performance obligations jumped $104.2 billion, up about $4.8 billion sequentially, while another $25 billion-plus of commitments signed early in Q3 weren’t included in the figure.

Given the impressive strength shown, BofA bumped its sales forecasts across the board.

Its 2026 estimate rose from $12.51 billion to $12.84 billion, 2027 moved from $25.20 billion to $25.96 billion, and 2028 rose from $39.89 billion to $41.03 billion.

However, the important twist is that BofA feels borrowing to finance spending associated with the larger revenue base will clip away at earnings in a big way.

As a result, it lowered EPS estimates, now expecting a $3.93 loss in 2026, compared to $3.54 previously, a $0.89 loss in 2027, versus $0.54, and $2.68 of EPS in 2028, down from $3.16.

Why lower EPS forecasts do not weaken BofA’s margin thesis

The more interesting part of BofA’s note was that its EPS estimates actually dropped while its operating-margin outlook improved.

BofA expects the operating margin to be nearly 8.3% in 2026, compared with 8% previously. Moreover, its 2027 estimate rose slightly to 15.9%, while its 2028 forecast moved to 19%, from 18.8%.

Moreover, the bank expects momentum to grow in the back half of the year.

It’s modeling operating margin to rise from 5% in Q2 to 6.6% in Q3 and 14.6% in Q4 as recently activated infrastructure begins generating sales.

Also, CoreWeave is apparently gaining pricing power.

Contracts signed during Q2 carried contribution margins 5 to 10 percentage points higher than earlier periods. Additionally, the neocloud operator implemented a nearly 25% price increase in July, on the back of scarce AI infrastructure capacity and improving customer economics.

As a result, that switches up the economics of the story.

CoreWeave isn’t just tying to deploy more GPUs. If newer contracts are signed at materially better returns, each incremental block of capacity will become more profitable.

Paired with higher-margin ancillary businesses and short-duration enterprise contracts, they could eventually support an operating-margin range above 25% to 30%.

That’s why BofA assigns CoreWeave a premium valuation, based on 26 times estimated calendar-2027 EV/EBIT, comfortably above the 14 to 19 times range it cites for cloud data centre peers.

CoreWeave investors still face a very expensive growth story

CoreWeave’s bull case comes with its fair share of financial and execution risks.

BofA explicitly flagged stock-price volatility, customer concentration, supplier concentration and competition from bigger cloud providers, including Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services.

Its rivals have far deeper pockets and considerable more financial capacity to continue funding infrastructure investment.

On top of that, customer concentration is also pretty important.

Large hyperscaler and AI-native contracts can add billions of dollars to the backlog, but a heavy reliance on just a small group of customers means the loss or repricing of a major contract has an outsized impact.

Moreover, there’s the financing burden to consider.

BofA’s own model suggests CoreWeave could potentially burn nearly $23.8 billion of free cash flow in 2026 and $22.9 billion in 2027, before we see the deficit narrowing out substantially in 2028.

Therefore, its investors are effectively told to tolerate a lot of that cash consumption while the infrastructure necessary to support future earnings is being built.

That makes execution doubly important.

Consequently, for investors, the next major checkpoints go beyond whether CoreWeave can continue beating quarterly revenue expectations.

Active-power additions, backlog conversion, pricing on new contracts, customer diversification, and liquidity positioning could ultimately determine a premium valuation.

So far, the encouraging bit is that those operating fundamentals are moving in the right direction, with sales expected to rise exponentially.

For color, Core Weave stock is changing hands at 7.3 times trailing 12-month sales, but that figure drops to 3.9 times on a forward basis according to Seeking Alpha data.

Google makes costly bet Apple proved can work

Faizan Farooque — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 14:19:58 GMT

For years, Google had a problem that even its dominance of internet search couldn't solve: Apple owned the relationship with hundreds of millions of valuable consumers through the devices they carried every day.

Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google is making another attempt to close that gap, and its new Pixel series demonstrates just how much more ambitious and expensive that effort has become.

Google announced the Pixel 11 family, the Pixel Watch 5, and a new $29 Pixel Tag tracker, offering more artificial intelligence, health, and creator features across its devices. But underlying the specs is a greater economic strategy: Google is putting together more parts of an ecosystem that increasingly looks like the blueprint Apple (AAPL) spent years refining.

Google is also charging its consumers higher prices.

The base Pixel 11 now costs $899, which is $100 more than the previous generation but with 256GB of storage instead of 128GB. The Pixel 11 Pro Fold also jumps $100 to $1,899, and the Pixel Watch 5 is up $50 to $399.

Those jumps make the launch feel more impactful than another yearly smartphone redesign. It sounds like Google is more certain than ever that Pixel can be a premium ecosystem of its own and not just another Android phone.

For investors, the question is whether Gemini can give Google something it didn’t have before: a motivation for consumers to buy not just one Google product but the next one, too.

Google is charging more as Pixel moves upmarket

The Pixel 11 is an example of that change.

The phone, which starts at $899, runs on Google’s latest Tensor G6 processor that Google claims offers 25% faster web browsing and 15% faster launching of apps. The business also promises over 30 hours of battery life and faster wireless charging than the Pixel 10.

Google has also updated the camera system, but what’s more noteworthy is it’s doing new things with the software behind those cameras.

New features include Magic Capture, which extracts shots and segments from video footage, and Camera Looks, which alters the way images are handled. A new Creator Suite features video editing, an onscreen teleprompter, and better speech augmentation.

That implies a significant difference in Google’s strategy. Hardware advances throughout the smartphone industry are becoming incremental, so software and AI are becoming more essential methods for getting people to upgrade.

Google has a clear asset in that race, and that's Gemini.

There’s even a new HiLight LED in the camera bar on the Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL, which may signal Gemini interactions as well as notifications like incoming calls from chosen contacts. It's a modest feature, but it highlights how Google is starting to build hardware around its AI, rather than just bolting AI software onto existing gear.

That might become increasingly crucial as Google, Apple, and other technology companies compete to make AI helpers a more constant part of people's daily lives.

The firm that controls the gadget has a huge say on what AI service gets the chance.

Google is borrowing from Apple’s most powerful advantage

Perhaps the cheapest product at Google’s debut is actually the most telling.

The new Pixel Tag goes for $29, just the kind of reasonably priced add-on that might make it tougher to abandon a digital ecosystem as consumers start to accumulate devices around it.

Google says the tracker’s battery is replaceable and should last more than a year, and it will sell a four-pack for $99.

A $29 tracker isn’t going to move the needle on Alphabet’s financials on its own. But it fills another gap within a broader approach.

Apple’s competitive strength has never been based on having the best iPhone in any year. An iPhone can get you an Apple Watch, AirPods, AirTags, an iPad, and a Mac. Adding another gadget makes the other devices more useful and changing ecosystems more cumbersome.

Google is building up a similar library of its own.

Pixel provides the smartphone. Pixel Watch covers wearables. Pixel Buds provide audio. Pixel Tag adds tracking. Google's Tensor chips give it more control over the underlying hardware, while Gemini can increasingly become the intelligence connecting those products.

That’s a far loftier goal than stealing a few points of smartphone market share.

More Google:

The Pixel 11 Pro Fold solidifies Google’s hunt for high-end buyers. The foldable starts at $1,899 and has three times the durability of its predecessor, according to Google, brighter displays, and IP68 water and dust resistance.

At that price, Google is not in a price competition. It’s hoping that its brand, software, and AI make its hardware more and more valuable at this high price.

Google is building the kind of moat Apple mastered years ago

Hindustan Times / Getty Images

Pixel Watch shows how much bigger Google’s ecosystem bet is becoming

The Pixel Watch 5 is part of the strategy.

Google is adding more than just simple smartwatch capabilities. It includes Breathing Emergency Detection, nightly sleep-breathing analysis, and monthly reports. Trends in blood pressure and insulin resistance. Expected September.

AI is also becoming more common in fitness aspects, with AI-generated strength training routines and rep tracking. Google also says that its GPS route tracking is superior to those of the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and the Garmin Fenix 8 Pro.

The comparison gives a good idea of Google's competitive goals; however, investors should treat manufacturer performance claims as just that until independent validation occurs.

More importantly, health and fitness can make wearables very sticky products. A user also may stay within one ecosystem since they have months or years of health, workout, and sleep data built up inside it.

This is the kind of ongoing engagement that IT businesses love.

Google is challenging Apple’s ecosystem advantage on multiple fronts: smartphones, accessories, wearables, exclusive hardware, and now AI.

What investors should know about Google’s Pixel push

$899: Pixel 11 starting price, up $100 from its predecessor.
$1,099: Pixel 11 Pro starting price.
$1,299: Pixel 11 Pro XL starting price.
$1,899: Pixel 11 Pro Fold starting price, also up $100.
$399: Pixel Watch 5 starting price, up $50.
$29: Price of Google's new Pixel Tag.
25%: Google's claimed improvement in Tensor G6 web-browsing performance.
15%: Claimed improvement in app-loading performance.
August 20: Scheduled Pixel 11 launch date.

Gemini could change the economics of Google’s hardware bet

There is an important reason investors shouldn't mistake this for an argument that Pixel will suddenly dethrone the iPhone.

For Alphabet, hardware is a considerably smaller industry than advertising, and altering ingrained consumer habits is exceedingly tough. Samsung is another powerful competitor in Android hardware, while Google is looking to shore up the ecosystem Apple has been developing for years.

Higher prices present another challenge. Now Google has to convince consumers that Pixel devices are part of the same premium purchase discourse as Apple and Samsung products.

But AI provides a variable that didn’t fully exist in the same manner during Google’s past hardware advances.

The gadgets are of strategic value, but not as a means of Pixel becoming the world's dominating smartphone. Owning the hardware means the business has direct control over how Gemini reaches users and how deeply it can be embedded in everyday chores and how rapidly Google can launch AI experiences without having to rely totally on another company’s platform decisions.

That’s particularly so when smartphones develop from being sites where users launch AI apps to devices where AI assistants could more and more predict, organize, and execute activities.

Apple showed how profitable it can be when hardware, software, and services work together.

Google now owns phones, watches, earphones, and trackers, its own chips, and one of the world’s most important AI platforms. The Pixel 11 launch shows that elements are starting to fit into a more coherent plan.

The $100 price hikes will test if buyers see the same value as Google.

For investors in Alphabet, however, the larger concern isn’t whether the Pixel 11 will outsell the next iPhone. This is about whether Gemini can finally help Google develop the kind of consumer environment that Apple has shown can be incredibly hard and incredibly lucrative to walk away from.

Blackstone marked down its most popular griddles and accessories to as low as $15

Adam Reeder — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 14:03:00 GMT

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The winding down of summer doesn't have to mean the end of fun family barbecues. In fact, the fall can actually be a more enjoyable time of the year for backyard grilling for the same reason that hot tubs are great in the fall: more temperate conditions. If you don't want to bid farewell to patio parties with delicious food, then one of the best ways to keep the vibes going through the cooler months is by shopping for a Blackstone griddle. These outdoor grills offer a more versatile cooking option than most traditional standard grills. They gained popularity during the pandemic, as outdoor cooking became more commonplace for many people.

Even if you've never used an outdoor griddle in the past, this may be the perfect time to start your Blackstone journey. For roughly two decades, the brand has been making outdoor griddles that delight grillmasters and their invitees alike. Not only are these grills convenient and easy to cook on, but Amazon and Walmart have a number of them, and their associated accessories available at very low prices at the moment. The transition from summer to fall looks like the perfect time to jump into the deep end of the grilling pool with a new Blackstone.

What is a Blackstone griddle?

Blackstones offer a new way of grilling for many people. While traditional charcoal or gas grills utilize an open-flame and grate design, Blackstones incorporate a more simplistic approach. Standard grills use the flame as their heat source, with the grate exposing your meat to the fire for the purpose of searing the outside and cooking the inside. A Blackstone griddle, on the other hand, has a single large-format flat griddle that is heated evenly throughout. This allows you to cook the usual fare such as steak or ribs, but it also gives you a more diverse range of food choices and styles thanks to the open griddle design.

Blackstone 1883 Omnivore Griddle

Check price at Amazon

Blackstone Tabletop Camping Griddle

Blackstone Bronco Combo Griddle and Smoker

What makes a Blackstone griddle unique?

There are three main reasons that Blackstone griddles have soared in popularity in recent years. Those have to do with the fact that they offer a more even cooking experience, more versatile culinary options, and far easier cleanup than traditional grilling. As it relates to balanced heating, because the warmth is evenly distributed throughout the grill, you don't have to worry about overcooking your meats in one area while undercooking in others. This is one of the things that makes standard grills so difficult to use. Steaks often have varying degrees of thickness, so if you have uneven heat distribution on your grill, then it's harder to ensure you cook it evenly throughout. Because a griddle has the same temperature at every point, you have far more control over your cooking than with a standard grill and grate setup.

As for versatility, there are many items that you can cook on a Blackstone griddle that would be far more difficult on a standard grill. Items like baked beans, scrambled eggs, and anything else that might fall through a grate can be easily cooked on any Blackstone. A griddle offers you the ability to easily cook an entire meal on a single surface, regardless of the type of food you're preparing. This is something that's simply not possible on a typical charcoal or gas grill.

Finally, cleanup on a Blackstone grill is incredibly quick and easy. While standard grills require wire brushes and other specialized equipment for post-meal cleaning, Blackstones need far less intense maintenance. Because a griddle has few, if any, crevices for food to get trapped in, cleaning it is not a very labor-intensive endeavor. You can use a basic steam-cleaning pad or other similar item to make sure your Blackstone is totally cleaned and ready for the next barbecue. After all, when you've finished a long grilling session, the last thing you want to do is spend the next half hour cleaning your cooking surface.

Blackstone griddle accessories

Not only are Blackstone griddles currently available from Amazon and Walmart at great prices, but both retailers also sell many griddle accessories to make your cooking experience even better. In addition to the aforementioned steam pads, you can get other cleaning products, cooking tools, and any number of stands or storage accessories for your Blackstone Griddle. The following is a list of some of our favorite Blackstone accessories, and we think they can help take your grilling to the next level for an affordable price.

Blackstone Griddle Cover

Check price at Amazon

Blackstone Collapsible Tabletop Griddle Stand

Check price at Amazon

Blackstone Professional Griddle Accessory Tool Kit

Blackstone Griddle Breakfast Tool Kit

Heather Diehl / Getty Images

TheStreet Shopping is your guide for shopping insights and advice. We look beyond the price tag to find the best value in home, tech, and wellness gear based on product features and real-world use. Read more about our Editorial Standards and How We Choose Our Shopping Deals.

Intel's $20 billion stock sale has surprising upside

Opeyemi Babalola — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 13:33:00 GMT

Intel (INTC) priced a $20 billion stock offering this week, one of the largest equity raises in the history of the chip industry.

Shares fell nearly 4% when the deal was first announced, the kind of sell-off dilution almost always produces, according to CNBC. But at Bank of America, longtime semiconductor analyst Vivek Arya told clients the sell-off missed the real story.

Intel initially planned to raise $15 billion on Monday, Aug. 10, but demand pushed the deal higher overnight. The offering was upsized to $20 billion, with investors submitting more than $100 billion in orders, according to Bloomberg.

That level of demand for a stock already up 175% in 2026 signals confidence a one-day sell-off doesn't capture.

The final price came in at $95 per share, a 6.5% discount to the Friday, Aug. 7, closing price, Bloomberg reported. Intel expects net proceeds of roughly $19.7 billion once the deal closes on Aug. 12, according to the company's press release. JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Citigroup managed the offering.

Why BofA reads dilution as a bullish signal

BofA estimates the new shares will cut Intel's earnings per share by 4% to 5% once the higher count flows into 2026 estimates, according to a Bank of America research note shared with me this week.

That cost is real. But Arya wrote that the raise looks less like a defensive balance sheet repair and more like a company funding growth it already expects to land.

The timing supports that read. Intel raised its 2026 capital spending forecast to more than $20 billion in July, up from an earlier range of $17 billion to $18 billion, Chief Financial Officer Dave Zinsner told CNBC, adding that Intel is bracing for a "meaningful increase" in spending again in 2027 as customer demand builds.

BofA's note ties the new equity directly to that spending trajectory, along with continued progress on Intel's next generation 14A manufacturing process.

The foundry math behind BofA's price target

BofA's price target cut, to $145 from $160, sounds like fading confidence. It isn't. The lower target mostly reflects the dilution and a recent pullback in valuation multiples across AI chip stocks, not a change in the firm's underlying growth thesis, the note said.

BofA still rates Intel a Buy and sees roughly 48% upside from current levels. The firm projects Intel could eventually capture 8% to 10% of a $380 billion global wafer foundry market by 2030, along with a quarter to a third of a fast-growing chip packaging market.

That combo could push Intel's per-share earnings power above $6 by the end of the decade, according to the note.

Some of that opportunity already has names attached. BofA's note points to early-stage discussions covering Apple's M-series processor wafers and other prospective customers, as part of what could expand Intel's addressable foundry market well beyond its current base.

None of those deals are finalized, but their presence in the analysis is part of why BofA views the capital raise as forward funding rather than a rescue.

Intel's existing server chip business is already backing up that thesis. Server chip prices rose 43% year over year to roughly $1,200 per unit in the second quarter, BofA said, citing third-party market data.

BofA expects Intel's foundry division to reach operating profitability by the end of 2027, barring a major shift in customer commitments.

Intel diluted shareholders with a $20 billion stock sale, but BofA says the raise funds a foundry bet worth $6 in per-share earnings by 2030.

Why I think this capital raise makes Intel a buy

Wall Street usually panics when they see share dilution, but when I look at this $20 billion capital raise, I do not see a red flag at all. I see a massive opportunity. Companies do not casually pull in over $100 billion in orders for a desperate rescue mission.

From what I can tell, Intel is using its recent momentum to build a massive war chest right when its core server business is finally regaining pricing power. Building world-class semiconductor foundries takes an incredible amount of cash, and I believe securing that capital now guarantees they will not have to slow their aggressive manufacturing timeline.

More Intel:

Intel, a legacy company in the business for more than 57 years, knows exactly what it takes to weather brutal cycles and reclaim its spot at the top of the tech food chain.

If you ask me, the risk-reward profile here looks exceptionally attractive for anyone willing to look past the short-term noise. Getting in around $95 lets you ride along on a multi-year structural turnaround, especially with rumors of major customer conversations with heavyweights like Apple starting to surface.

I really think that by the time Intel actually proves out its 14A process node and posts steady foundry profits, the biggest gains will already be gone. Accepting a modest 5% hit to immediate earnings per share feels like a very small tax to pay for a front-row seat to America's most critical tech comeback.

Washington already ran this experiment

Washington ran this exact experiment a year ago, and it worked out better than almost anyone expected. The U.S. government converted roughly $8.9 billion in CHIPS Act grants and Secure Enclave funding into a 9.9% equity stake in Intel last August, buying in at $20.47 per share, according to CNBC.

That stake has since climbed toward $36 billion in value as Intel’s turnaround gained traction, according to a report by The Next Web.

That precedent doesn’t guarantee this week’s buyers see the same return, and Intel’s manufacturing turnaround remains unproven at scale.

Government ownership also complicates the picture, since Washington’s stake gives Intel political cover that ordinary shareholders don’t get to vote on. Still, it shows that betting equity on Intel’s foundry ambitions has already paid off once at a much lower entry price than this week’s $95.

The next signal to watch is yield data from Intel’s 18A and upcoming 14A manufacturing nodes, along with any confirmed external foundry customer beyond early discussions. Those two variables, more than the size of this week’s offering, will determine whether this second equity bet performs anything like the first one did for Washington.

A luxurious Canadian hotel brand is coming to snowy Japan

Veronika Bondarenko — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 13:17:00 GMT

Dating back to 1886 as an accommodation division of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the Fairmont chain is perhaps the most famous brand of luxury hotels to come out of Canada.

The chain is behind numerous iconic and historic properties in different corners of the second-largest country in the world by geographical area, including the Fairmont Lake Louise on the crystal-blue glacial lake at Banff National Park and the Château Frontenac in Québec City.

Along with 19 Fairmont properties within Canada, the Fairmont chain that is owned by the wider Accor group has a presence in more than 30 other countries. After breaking into the Japanese market with the opening of the Fairmont Tokyo in 2025, the chain just announces plans to continue expanding in the country with a new property in Japan's main ski destination.

Fairmont Niseko to come to Hokkeido in 2028

The Fairmont Niseko will be built in the ski resort and mountainous region on the Japanese island of Hokkaido. One of the main islands making up Japan, Hokkaido is renowned for its skiing due to the snow brought over through Siberian winds coming across the Sea of Japan.

It has always been a top ski destination for the Japanese and residents of nearby Asian countries but, in recent years, has been seeing more and more popularity among tourists from much farther away; in December 2026, Air Canada will launch a route to the capital city Sapporo from Vancouver International Airport (YVR) that will be the first direct flight to the island from North America.

The 165-room luxury resort is slated to open by early 2028 on a nine-acre site of woodland situated in between Mount Yotei and Mount Annupuri. While envisioned as a luxury hotel rather than a ski-in, ski-out resort offering direct access to the slopes, the new property will target both skiiers (Niseko Village and Hirafu will be accessible by shuttle) and those looking for a few days of luxurious relaxation.

In the summer, Hokkaido is also a popular golfing destination.

Early renderings show what the newly announced Fairmont Niseko is expected to look like.

Fairmont

"Experience operating ski and golf resorts," in North America will influence Japan property, Fairmont says

While most details around the new resort's designs and amenities are still in the works, Fairmont said that it will bring the touches and design vibe of its properties near several high-end ski resorts across Canada and the U.S. (there is also the Fairmont Chateau Whistler in British Columbia and Fairmont Telluride in Colorado) to a Japanese setting.

Some of the promised amenities include a spa and wellness club, a kids club and traditional Japanese onsen bathhouses built around a natural hot spring.

More Travel News:

"This is a testament to our growing presence in this dynamic and alluring country and further reinforces Fairmont Hotels & Resorts' leadership position in Asia, complemented by our deep experience operating premium ski and golf resorts in some of North America's most compelling natural settings," Omer Acar, the chief executive of the Fairmont brand at Accor, said in a statement.

Jeff Bezos takes bold new turn amid $4B Amazon sell-off

Damilola Esebame — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 13:03:00 GMT

Jeff Bezos filed a Form 144 with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Aug. 3, proposing to sell up to 15 million Amazon shares worth approximately $4.07 billion.

Within the same week, Sky Sports reported that Bezos had joined a consortium closing in on a deal for a roughly one-third stake in Liverpool Football Club, a size one insider described as slightly larger than the 30% originally reported.

Together, the moves mark a bold new turn for the Amazon founder, converting platform equity into a trophy sports asset at a pace and scale worth watching.

Bezos joins billionaire consortium for Liverpool

The consortium is led by Amit Bhatia, a 46-year-old British Indian entrepreneur who runs AyBe Capital, Sky Sports reported. Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, whose net worth sits near $32 billion, has joined the bid alongside Bezos, according to The Guardian.

The deal values Liverpool at approximately £4.4 billion, or about $6 billion, with the targeted stake worth roughly £1.35 billion.

Liverpool's valuation puts it alongside English football's biggest ownership deals, said Sky News City Editor Mark Kleinman.

The Financial Times is reporting this 'strategic minority stake' would be valued somewhere north of $6bn (£4.5bn). At that level, it would rival the biggest deals struck for a stake in an English Premier League club, broadly comparable to Man Utd and Chelsea in the last five years.

Fenway Sports Group bought the club in 2010 for £300 million and would retain majority control under the proposed structure.

An FSG spokesperson confirmed that a consortium "led, managed, and represented by Amit Bhatia" had expressed interest in a strategic minority investment, Sky Sports noted.

Why American capital keeps buying into the Premier League

The bid fits a pattern that has reshaped the Premier League's ownership map. Thirteen of 20 clubs now have American shareholders, up from a handful a decade ago, Sky Sports reported.

The appeal is increasingly arithmetic. The average valuation of the world's 30 most valuable soccer teams reached $2.9 billion in 2026, a 21% jump from 2025, according to Forbes.

Liverpool's valuation climbed 15% in a single year to $6.2 billion on $911 million in revenue. Fenway Sports Group paid £300 million for the club in 2010, meaning the asset has appreciated roughly twentyfold in 16 years.

The £1.35 billion minority stake looks less like a vanity purchase and more like a growth bet underwritten by global media rights, commercial expansion, and a revenue base that already rivals several North American franchises.

American investors are reshaping Premier League ownership, betting billions on rising valuations, media rights, commercial growth, and global football's expanding financial appeal.

EvgeniyShkolenko / Getty Images

From $9.7 billion in Amazon stock to a Liverpool stake

The consortium stake costs roughly £1.35 billion. Since mid-2025, Bezos has liquidated approximately $9.7 billion in Amazon stock across two programs, The Guardian reported.

The latest filing covers 15 million shares; it follows a separate 25-million-share program that generated approximately $5.7 billion between late June and late July 2025, when the earlier plan was completed.

Those numbers side by side are the diversification story: a founder who could fund a generational sports investment several times over from stock proceeds alone.

What Bezos' share sale means for Amazon investors

The sale does not signal that Bezos has turned bearish on Amazon, and the mechanism behind it matters for anyone watching insider activity. The 15-million-share disposal executes under a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan adopted on Nov. 14, 2025, EBC Financial Group reported.

These pre-scheduled plans are designed to insulate insiders from accusations of trading on material nonpublic information. The plan's adoption more than eight months before second-quarter earnings undercuts any narrative that a founder chose to sell at a peak.

More Amazon:

The 15 million shares represent just 1.7% of Bezos's 880.9 million directly owned shares reported on his most recent Form 4, and roughly 0.14% of Amazon's more than 10.78 billion outstanding shares, a fraction that limits the signal value of the disclosure.

Nick Jones, an analyst at BNP Paribas, raised his Amazon price target to $355, arguing that "management now sees Amazon Web Services as at least double its prior multihundred-billion-dollar opportunity, with a path to becoming a $1 trillion business over time," Benzinga reported.

Amazon shares dipped about 2.3% to $277.42 on Aug. 4, erasing only a fraction of the prior two-day rally, EBC Financial Group noted.

Bezos' parallel moves leave bigger questions than the sale itself

The filing's details complicate the headline, and the 10b5-1 plan was adopted more than eight months before execution. The 15 million shares represent 1.7% of Bezos's direct holdings, and the capital isn't sitting in cash; it's rotating into a trophy sports asset.

That pattern looks less like a founder heading for the exit and more like one converting platform equity into a different kind of portfolio.

For Amazon shareholders, the open questions are simple.

Does $9.7 billion in sales over a year change the buyback math they're counting on?

How much more selling is scheduled before the plan expires in February 2027? And can Amazon keep spending $220 billion a year on AI while running a $7.6 billion cash-flow deficit?

Lilly gains access to market that could add millions of customers

Peace Longe — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 12:33:00 GMT

Eli Lilly (LLY) has spent 2026 defending its lead in the weight-loss drug market, mostly with injections. That approach is changing.

On Aug. 10, Britain's medicines regulator cleared Lilly's new daily pill for both weight management and type 2 diabetes. It was the first approval the drug received anywhere in Europe.

The decision matters for anyone holding or watching Eli Lilly stock.

Lilly's biggest growth bet has relied on injections. This approval gives it a pill version instead, one that patients take once a day.

That shift could reach patients who never wanted a shot in the first place. And it puts Lilly head-to-head with its fiercest rival in a market that barely existed a year ago.

Here is what the approval covers, why it could add millions of new customers, and what LLY investors should watch before deciding the news is fully priced into the stock.

U.K. just approved Foundayo for Eli Lilly

The drug is called Foundayo, and its active ingredient is orforglipron.

It is a once-daily pill that belongs to the same GLP-1 class as blockbuster injections like Mounjaro and Zepbound.

GLP-1 drugs copy a gut hormone your body makes after eating. That hormone tells your brain you're full, so you eat less.

The U.K.'s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agencyauthorized Foundayo on Monday, Aug. 10, for adults with obesity, and for some overweight adults with a weight-related health condition, The Pharmacist reported.

It also cleared the pill to help control blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes. That dual approval widens the pool of patients who could qualify.

The regulator was blunt about one limit, though. The tablet is approved for use, but it is not yet available on the National Health Service.

Eli Lilly's Foundayo is a once-daily pill that patients can take without food or water restrictions.

jetcityimage / Getty Images

Why Foundayo pill could reach patients whom injections never did

For years, the biggest barrier to weight-loss drugs was not the science. It was the needle.

Millions of people who could benefit from these treatments avoid them because of a fear of needles, the hassle of refrigerating an injector pen, or the discomfort of injecting themselves in public.

A daily tablet removes most of those worries. That's the core reason Lilly sees Foundayo reaching a new group of customers.

Foundayo carries a second advantage that's easy to overlook. Patients can take it at any time of day, with or without food or water.

That may sound minor, but it isn't for the rival product.

Novo Nordisk's oral Wegovy must be swallowed on an empty stomach with a small sip of water, followed by a mandatory 30-minute wait before eating or drinking, Quartz reported.

For a drug people take every single day for years, convenience determines whether they stick with it.

What the Foundayo clinical data actually show

Convenience only matters if the pill works, so the trial results are worth a close look.

In Lilly's ATTAIN-1 study, 3,127 adults with obesity took Foundayo for 72 weeks. Those on the highest dose lost an average of 11.2% of their body weight, EMJ reported.

More than half of patients on that dose lost at least 10% of their weight. The trial also showed improvements in heart-health markers, including cholesterol and blood pressure.

Here's the full context for investors:

Foundayo's results trail the injections. Lilly's Zepbound averages about 21% weight loss.
The pill's advantage is reach and cost, not raw power.
For patients who won't inject, a pill that works reasonably well beats a stronger shot they'll never take.

That trade-off is exactly the bet Lilly is making.

The competition problem Lilly can't ignore

Lilly does not walk into the U.K. market without competition. Novo Nordisk got there first with its own oral option.

Novo's Wegovy pill launched in Britain about two months before Foundayo's approval, according to CNBC. That head start gives Novo an early base of patients and prescribers.

The rivalry is intense enough that both companies are raising guidance and defending market share on every earnings call.

Novo Nordisk recently lowered what investors should expect from Wegovy pill sales, after posting a weaker quarter than Wall Street wanted.

Foundayo's U.S. debut showed the challenge clearly. The pill brought in $98 million in its first full quarter after launching in April, which came in slightly below what analysts expected.

Lilly will need aggressive marketing to close Novo's early lead in Britain.

How Foundayo will reach U.K. patients, and the pricing question

Foundayo will launch in the U.K. later this month through private prescription, meaning patients pay out of pocket at first.

Lilly said the pill will cost less than Mounjaro, which lists at £330 for a month's supply, Reuters reported. The company has not confirmed an exact figure yet.

The bigger prize is public coverage, and that decision is out of Lilly's hands.

More Healthcare Stocks:

Before the NHS covers Foundayo, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence must finish a cost-effectiveness review.

That verdict is due on Nov. 18, 2026, The Pharmaceutical Journal reported.

A favorable ruling would unlock mass distribution across the U.K.

A rejection or a demand for steep discounts would limit near-term growth. Investors should treat that date as a real catalyst, not a formality.

What LLY investors should watch next

Foundayo is under review in the European Union, and a positive decision there would open a far larger market.

Here are the three milestones worth tracking:

Key Foundayo catalysts for 2026 and beyond

U.K. private launch (late August 2026): First real read on demand and out-of-pocket pricing
NICE reimbursement decision (Nov. 18, 2026): Decides whether the NHS covers Foundayo for wide public use
EU approval (timing to be confirmed): Unlocks the broader European market

Lilly stock rose about 3.9% to $1,231.94 on Aug. 10 after the news, near its 52-week high, Grafa reported.

At a price-to-earnings ratio around 40, a lot of future growth is already built into LLY shares. That valuation leaves little room for error if a launch fails or NICE pushes back on price.

If you own Lilly or are considering it, treat Foundayo as one pillar of a broad franchise rather than a single make-or-break product.

Size any position to your own risk tolerance, since a highly valued stock can drop sharply when expectations run this high.

Lilly just gained legal access to a market of millions who avoided weight-loss drugs because they never wanted a shot, and the next few months will show how many of them actually fill a prescription.

Amazon is selling a 'very sturdy' 4-tier slim rolling cart with two drawers for only $30

Liz Sheldon — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 12:30:00 GMT

TheStreet aims to feature only the best products and services. If you buy something via one of our links, we may earn a commission.

Why we love this deal

Many homes have nooks and crannies that aren't being used to their full potential, wasting space that could be used for storage. Utilizing small spaces like this can be the difference between a clean, cozy house and a messy one. Thankfully, storage solutions for smaller spaces have become more popular over the years with the rise of apartments and smaller homes, allowing you to add extra storage to your home without taking up tons of space or building large pieces of furniture.

If you have a narrow area between the counter and the fridge, next to the washing machines in the laundry room, or behind your door in the bathroom, the Kingrack 4-Tier Slim Rolling Cart provides an easy storage solution. For just $30, this cart includes multiple types of storage for small items, like skincare, DIY accessories, and kitchen utensils. Shoppers can save 39% at Amazon.

Kingrack 4-Tier Slim Rolling Cart, $30 (was $49) at Amazon

This article written for TheStreet by Nifty 50+

Why do shoppers love it?

This slim rolling cart measures just 7.4 inches wide, making it easy to store and maneuver around the house. The 35.4-inch-tall size provides room for four tiers of storage, including two open shelves and two pull-out drawers. The open shelves are great for storing kitchen spices that may get lost in cabinets, hair care and beauty products that might be too large to fit in normal drawers, or providing a space to put DIY items that you're currently using. The drawers are great for holding small bundles of cleaning towels or narrower items that may fall off the top of the cart or countertop too easily. The top shelves have lips that keep items from rolling off, allowing them to hold even the smallest items, like chapstick or makeup brushes, without worrying.

The wheels make it easy to move around your home. Two of the wheels feature locks for safety, and they all rotate 360 degrees, so it’s super easy to turn around sharp corners of the house or around furniture. It’s a great option for DIY home projects or a cleaning cart, allowing you to carry your supplies with you as you move around. It also features a mesh design that can easily be cleaned and keeps items dry, making it a great spot to keep plants or use as a drying rack for kitchenware. Additionally, the top of the cart has handles that help make maneuvering it even easier.

Details to know

Storage: This cart features two open shelves and two drawers for easy storage.
Size: Measuring 35 inches tall, 15.7 inches long, and only 7.4 inches wide, this rolling cart fits almost anywhere.
Accessibility: The rolling design allows you to take this anywhere around your house, and the lightweight design makes it easy to carry up or down steps.

One shopper said, "It's easy to assemble and holds much more than expected. The slim design fits perfectly in small spaces, but the storage capacity is impressive. It's very sturdy once put together, and it looks modern and stylish. Great combination of function and appearance — I highly recommend it."

Another buyer said, "I'm pleasantly surprised just how great this shelf cart is! Definitely worth the price! Looked at some other skinny shelf carts, but they were plastic, and review videos showed how rickety they were. This shelf cart is ALL metal and very sturdy."

Shop more deals

The Kingrack 4-Tier Slim Rolling Cart offers convenience, versatility, and a sturdy design for 39% off. It's easy to roll around the house, lightweight and easy to carry up stairs, and features metal mesh baskets that dry easily and are quick to clean off. This rolling cart is just $30 at Amazon, offering easy storage without taking up prime space.

The retirement u-turn: Why Americans are going back to work

Dawn Allcot — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 12:17:00 GMT

Working after retirement, even part-time, may help slow cognitive decline and also provide emotional fulfillment. But for one-third of retired Americans who have returned to work or would consider doing so, it could be a financial necessity to make ends meet, rather than a choice, according to a new survey from Western & Southern Financial Group.

The survey also revealed that 45% of previously retired Americans are still working, while 19% are open to returning to the workforce.

Read: Unexpected retirement expenses; how to prepare

Some GenXers and younger Baby Boomers are planning ahead and predicting that Social Security plus their savings and investments may not be enough to support the lifestyle they want in retirement. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of Americans 50+ said that returning to work would “meaningfully improve” their financial situation in retirement. Similarly, 55% in the same demographic admitted that uncertainty about the future of Social Security has heavily influenced their outlook on retirement.

What Type of Work Do Retirees Want?

Most retirees returning to work put flexibility above other factors in their search for a role. Of the main reasons retirees returned to work “staying productive on own terms” and “staying mentally sharp” topped the list, tied for 69%. Meanwhile, 68% of seniors rated “supplementing retirement income” as “extremely” or “very” important.

In line with these reasons, a vast majority of retirees (67%) said they’re seeking or already working in remote or work-from-home roles. Freelance or consulting work also ranked high on the list, with 47% of retirees considering or holding these roles.

“For seniors seeking remote work, it's important to first identify what they want from the opportunity,” said Resume-Now career expert Keith Spencer. Mentally review the reasons you want to return to work, including earning supplemental income or simply keeping your skills sharp, to identify roles that might fit.

“Before applying, consider factors like schedule, workload, technology requirements, physical demands, and whether the position aligns with your current lifestyle and long-term goals,” he said. “The best role is not always the one with the highest pay, but rather the one that provides the right balance of flexibility, responsibilities, and overall fit.”

Other top jobs for retirees, according to the survey, included gig work (39%), seasonal positions (37%), and starting a small business (22%). You can read inspiring stories of retirees who launched second businesses and found their purposes later in life in a regular series called “You’re Too Old For That.”

How to Find (and Win) the Right Job

It can be frustrating to search for remote or work-from-home positions that match your skillset. Understanding how the job board search engines work and keeping broad criteria can help.

“Employers often use different titles for similar roles, so expanding your search criteria can uncover opportunities you might otherwise miss,” Spencer said. “Most job boards also offer advanced search filters that can help you narrow results based on your preferences, but it's important to avoid filtering so narrowly that you limit your options.”

He advised using both large national job boards and niche job boards within specific industries to find hidden gems that may not be shared broadly.

“Professional associations and industry organizations can also be valuable sources of job leads,” he said. If you’re looking for a job within your prior industry, reach out to your network of business connections, including past employers, colleagues, clients, or vendors in your field.

As you review job descriptions, keep in mind ways you can tailor your resume and interview responses to the employer’s needs. “Pay attention to the challenges employers are trying to solve, the skills they prioritize, and the results they hope to achieve,” Spencer said. “When you understand their needs, it becomes much easier to identify and communicate the aspects of your background that make you a strong fit.”

And if you don’t check all the boxes, that’s okay. “In many cases, an employer will place just as much value on a candidate's reliability, professionalism, and experience as they do on technical skills,” Spencer said.

Avoid Scams

Job scams are on the rise, according to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) stats reported by Moody’s. Losses rose to more than $501 million in 2024, up from $90 million in 2020. The FTC report identified remote jobseekers and older adults (age 70+) in high-risk groups. Although younger adults, ages 20 to 29) reported the highest number of job fraud incidents, median losses amongst the senior set were higher, at $1,650 per scam.

“One of the biggest red flags is any request for money, like application fees, training costs, or equipment purchases, as well as requests for sensitive personal information early in the hiring process,” Spencer said.

Many scammers avoid face-to-face interactions like video interviews, although that’s changing in the AI age, when even a Zoom interview persona can be faked. Requests for secrecy remain a red flag, along with an intense sense of urgency.

“Many scammers… encourage candidates to act quickly before they have time to verify the opportunity,” Spencer said.

Your best defense is to slow the process down and take time to investigate the company and the job source carefully. “Research the company, verify that the position is listed on the employer's official careers page, and review the company's LinkedIn presence,” Spencer advised.

You can even ask loved ones for their thoughts if you have doubts. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Your adult children or a trusted friend won’t think less of you for asking for their insights; sometimes a second set of eyes is all you need to confirm your suspicions.

“Taking a few extra minutes to confirm the legitimacy of an opportunity can help you avoid becoming the victim of a job scam,” Spencer urged.

A Different Kind of Retirement

Retirement for GenX may not look the same as it did for our grandparents or even our parents. But it’s never too late to revisit your retirement savings strategy, explore investment options, and even plan for a second-stage career. You might find the rewards of working in your later years extend beyond the financial benefits.

Morgan Stanley doubles down on SpaceX stock for investors

Hillary Remy — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 12:07:00 GMT

There is a number making the rounds on Wall Street right now that would have seemed disconnected from reality 12 months ago: a $600 price target for a company that went public at $135 in June and briefly fell below that listing price within weeks of trading.

That kind of number does not get attached to rocket launches and satellite subscriptions.

Morgan Stanley just attached it anyway. The reason comes down to one acquisition. SpaceX (SPCX) bought AI coding platform Cursor for $60 billion in stock. The bank kept its base-case target at $300. It raised the bull case to $600.

The gap between those two numbers is where the entire SpaceX debate lives right now.

Morgan Stanley's $300 base case and $600 bull case for SpaceX

Morgan Stanley's $300 base case is built on what SpaceX is doing now. Rocket launches. Starlink. An AI division the bank estimates is worth about $12 per share.

Morgan Stanley considers that a discount to comparable neocloud companies, according to Investing.com.

More SpaceX:

The $600 bull case is different. It does not assume things go well. It assumes things go very well, and all at once. Cursor needs to become a major recurring software business. Starlink needs to keep growing. Starship needs to lower orbital launch costs enough that space-based computing becomes real. Investors need to assign a premium multiple to the whole platform. That is a lot of dominoes.

SpaceX stock is down roughly 14.5% from its listing price. It climbed above $135 for the first time since mid-July in the three sessions before this report. The recovery suggests the market is at least reconsidering the post-IPO selloff.

Why the Cursor deal changes SpaceX's AI story

SpaceX exercised its option to acquire Cursor in June for $60 billion in stock. The deal is expected to close before the end of August, according to The Information.

Cursor is an AI coding platform. It writes, edits, debugs, and reviews code. More than 50,000 businesses use it. Over 64% of Fortune 500 companies use it.

SpaceX and Cursor have been working together since April. The companies jointly trained Grok 4.5 using Cursor data and made the model available inside the platform. SpaceX already has distribution inside Cursor. What it is buying is scale and recurring revenue.

The Cursor brand may eventually be phased out from future software releases. The product would be divided among several SpaceXAI teams, The Information noted. SpaceX is absorbing Cursor into its AI stack rather than running it as a stand-alone product.

Morgan Stanley's $300 base case is built on what SpaceX is doing now.

Stefani/Getty Images

How Morgan Stanley models Cursor's revenue contribution through 2030

Morgan Stanley's estimates for Cursor are specific. In 2026, Cursor is expected to add $2.5 billion to SpaceX revenue. That is about 10% of projected AI revenue for the year.

In 2027, that figure jumps to $13 billion, or roughly 19% of projected AI revenue, according to Investing.com.

Morgan Stanley's Cursor revenue projections:

2026 revenue contribution: $2.5 billion, approximately 10% of SpaceX projected AI revenue
2027 revenue contribution: $13 billion, approximately 19% of SpaceX projected AI revenue
Annual recurring revenue by end of 2026: $8 billion
Annual recurring revenue by 2030: roughly $33 billion
Source: Investing.com

If those numbers hit, Cursor would be one of the fastest-growing enterprise software businesses in the market. The open question is whether Cursor inside SpaceX grows the same way it would have as a stand-alone company.

What Arete's $450 price target says about the SpaceX debate

Morgan Stanley is not alone. Arete bumped its SpaceX price target to $450 from $401. It kept a Buy rating. That represents roughly 224% upside from current levels, The Fly confirmed.

Three targets, three different answers. Morgan Stanley at $300. Arete at $450. Morgan Stanley's bull case at $600. All three include launch revenue and Starlink.

What separates them is how much value each assigns to Cursor, orbital computing, and the AI business SpaceX is still building. That is a genuinely hard thing to model from the outside.

SpaceX is still a rocket company. It is now also a $60 billion software buyer. Morgan Stanley's $300 target bets those two things fit together. The $600 bull case bets they fit together and exceed what either could do alone.

For investors deciding which number to believe, the Cursor integration and the first Cursor-specific revenue figures will be the clearest early signal.

The stock has been volatile since the IPO. It fell below its $135 listing price within weeks. It has since been trading in a range that shows real uncertainty about which version of SpaceX investors are buying.

A rocket business with satellite internet is one stock. An AI platform that also launches rockets is a very different one. Morgan Stanley's note is a bet on the second version.

Social Security Reform: Lessons from the Greenspan Commission

Jeffrey H. Snyder — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 11:30:00 GMT

Social Security is heading toward a critical deadline: without action, the Trust Funds are projected to run dry by 2032, triggering an automatic 22% benefit cut that could cost a typical retired couple roughly $18,500 a year. In this conversation, Brett Loper, Executive Vice President for Policy at the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, breaks down what's driving the shortfall—an aging population and a worker-to-retiree ratio falling from 4-to-1 to just over 2-to-1—and why the program's original design is under strain. Drawing on the successful 1983 Greenspan Commission fix, Loper explains how the challenge can be solved with practical, bipartisan solutions.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

Well, Brett, it's great to see you. Thanks for joining us on the program this morning.

Brett Loper, Peter G. Peterson Foundation

It's great to be here. Thank you.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

Well, we're going to talk about Social Security and Social Security reform. This has been talked about for quite some time. But Brett, this is not the first time in United States history that we've actually had an issue of insolvency, is it?

Brett Loper, Peter G. Peterson Foundation

You're correct. It is not. The program was created almost 100 years ago, 1935 to be precise.

And we have had points in time where some adjustments have had to be made in the program. The most notable, perhaps, of those was the last time we did this, the last significant reforms to the program, which were in 1983, when a similar situation was about to occur with the Social Security Trust Funds, which is kind of their accounting system. We're about to go insolvent, and Social Security beneficiaries were going to face a cut in their benefits.

So we're here again, on the precipice, and ironically, almost 50 years later. So hopefully, we can do again something similar to what we did almost 50 years ago.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

1983, I was 11 years old, and the Orioles have won the World Series that year. So that obviously was a long time ago. So let's talk about this, because this was Alan Greenspan, who was the chairman of the Federal Reserve at one point.

I think he just recently passed on. But there was a commission, and so they kind of have a track record of dealing with this in the past. Is that correct?

Brett Loper, Peter G. Peterson Foundation

It is correct. So in the early 80s, after he was elected to his first term, President Reagan, knowing that this issue was going to be one that he faced in his first term, appointed Alan Greenspan to chair a commission. The commission was created via executive order of the president, but he took recommendations from the leaders in Congress, and they had a mix of public sector and private sector experts.

And they spent more than a year kind of tussling about and hashing out what types of changes, both to benefits and to the payroll tax system, what types of modifications would be necessary in order to get the program back on sound footing.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

So we have a path forward. Is there a chance that we could apply this methodology, this I'm going to call it a process, because I come from the world of the fiduciary. There's a process.

Can we apply this process now in 2026?

Brett Loper, Peter G. Peterson Foundation

Absolutely, we certainly could. There are bills in Congress, one in the House, bipartisan in both cases, one in the House, sponsored by representatives Tom Cole of Oklahoma and Tom Swasey of New York, that would do essentially what Reagan did. It would create a bipartisan commission.

It would provide for some expedited procedures for Congress to consider it once the commission, the panel develops that solution. And then there is a slightly different version of this, gets at the same core theory of solving it in the Senate, sponsored by Senators Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Dick Durbin of Illinois. Instead of having independent commissioners, they actually rest the development of the recommendation with what's known as the Social Security Advisory Board, which is a small, nonpartisan, almost academic-like entity that advises the federal government and consists of a handful of commissioners who are in their own right experts in the program, in retirement systems, etc.

But they too would provide that sort of expedited consideration of the recommendation in order to take some of the politics out of the equation. That's really one of the challenging things is Congress is intended to be a political institution. Both parties have used Social Security to some degree as an electoral weapon or a political weapon through the years.

And it's going to be hard for them to move off of certain positions they've taken or claims that they've made. And so resting this recommendation authority with outside experts should help prove to the public that there's good sound give-and-take in developing the recommendations. And hopefully they've got greater trust in what has been developed by those experts.

And at the same time, Congress is not removing itself. At the end of the day, both chambers still have to pass the same bill. And that bill has to be sent to the president for his or her signature.

And hopefully that process can play out with one of these two bills putting it in motion.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

Brett, there's a real sense of urgency, at least when you read press reports. I see television ads all the time, social media ads that this is a big deal. Noam, I mean, given that Senators Cassidy, Congressman Suozzi, Congressman Cole, they've come together.

Even if the White House, the executive branch didn't do an executive order, because I think that adds to your point, adds a little bit of the politics and maybe one party wouldn't seem to go on the other side of almost every issue. I mean, there's just a sense of urgency. I mean, it has to be done.

2032 is right around the corner. I mean, it's less than six years away.

Brett Loper, Peter G. Peterson Foundation

It is right around the corner. And I think notably, if we're just weaving in a little bit of electoral politics here, Senators who were elected in 2026, right, we've got an election right around the corner, just a couple of months away. A third of the Senate is obviously up for election every two years.

So you're talking 33, 34 new senators coming in or reelected senators coming in who serve a six-year term. And that six-year term is going to conclude after this crisis hits. And so it's really incumbent upon them, and we'd argue the voters, and voters are beginning to pay greater and greater attention to this, need to be aware that these candidates who are running to fill these terms in November really should have a plan of action in order to address it and not just make sweeping claims that, you know, I'm not going to change anything, everything's going to be protected. Anybody who says they want to make any modifications to Social Security is out to get you, you know, things like that. That's not going to work.

And voters, we have good polling data that indicates that voters today don't have widespread awareness, but they have growing awareness. And of those who are aware that this problem is coming, they demand overwhelmingly, overwhelmingly that their elected officials work to address it.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

I mean, isn't it more of an issue than it was in 1980? Because there are more of us, and I'm in that category, I'm a Gen Xer. In 10 years, 11 years, I'm going to be 65 years old.

Hard to believe, really is. When I look in the mirror, it seems to be on course. But there are more of us turning age 65.

This is an aging America. This is even more of an issue because so many Americans rely on Social Security, if not all, but at least a big part of their retirement. So isn't it more of an issue now just because of the demographic shift in the United States?

Brett Loper, Peter G. Peterson Foundation

Yeah, I think there's some truth. I think there's some truth to that. So if you think about the program when it was created under Franklin Delano Roosevelt, it was really designed for a safety net almost for a very small subset of the population.

I mean, the average age of those on the program was like 68, something like that. I checked my math on that. But people would have it for, live on it for three, four, five years, something like that.

Due to lots of good developments in society, lots of great advances for mankind, we're living longer, we're living healthier for longer periods of time. And so we have this extended amount of time that people are expecting and needing those benefits. There are other retirement programs that obviously many Americans have access to through the course of their work, and those are critical as well.

But this is one that you can see the demographic change in the country, which is good, longer, healthier lives. Who's going to complain about that? But the challenge that that creates is you're going to have to make some modest changes to the program over time in order to make sure that that demographic balance works out.

If we had at one point four workers for every retiree, and we're down in coming years to just over two workers per retiree, and it's those workers who are paying the taxes that are creating the benefits for the retirees, you're going to have to make some adjustments. It's relatively obvious. And again, I think that's why so many voters, once they're aware of this problem, are really encouraging their elected officials to address it.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

When you think about the changes, and this is where your expertise, I think, really comes in, do these have to be sweeping changes that are implemented immediately? Meaning, hey, you vote on it in 2026. I mean, this is a hypothetical.

And then 2027, the corrections are made. Or is it more of a phased approach? Because I don't know about you, but whenever someone changes something immediately, I have to adjust my balance, my budget, all the other parts of my life to accommodate a change.

So would any change be more phased in over a period of time than just, hey, we're going to pull the rug out from other people's feet and do it tomorrow?

Brett Loper, Peter G. Peterson Foundation

Yeah, it's a great question. I'm going to answer it in two parts. First off, we talked about this problem, this cliff coming only six years from now.

And just to put into magnitude what that cliff is going to be, that's a 22% across-the-board cut for every beneficiary. If you think about the typical or average retired couple, that's $18,500 of reduction in benefits annually that's going to hit them in 2032. So the consequences of inaction are significant.

Related to that is the fact that the longer we wait, the harder it is to make those adjustments. I mean, this is not that hard to consider. You can think about various ways in your own life that you might decide you're going to put a little bit of money away per month so that in a year you can buy a new television.

Well, if you don't put any money away and then you try to take it all out of your 12th month's salary, you may have nothing left. So it's the same type of concept here. The sooner we can act, the more moderating we can make the changes.

Now, having said that, we are talking about these long-term changes in the makeup of the overall population and the percentage of retirees versus workers and our life longevity and things like that. And so you can make changes that slowly impact retirees. You can largely, especially if we were to act now, you can largely or maybe even completely hold harmless any retiree, even the wealthiest of retirees, the top 1% and 2% who still receive Social Security benefits, by the way.

You can make these changes more slowly over time. They won't be as dramatic in terms of the amount of revenue that has to be raised to stabilize the program. They won't be as impactful, particularly for those who are most dependent upon the program, if some modest changes are made to benefits.

Or if we were to do something like phase in a change in the eligibility age. So today, it's 67. You can delay that if you choose, all the way to age 70.

But if we were to make some very modest changes to that, say for workers who are today 40 or 45 years old or even younger, they have ample time, decades really, to prepare for that additional work. And frankly, by then, they're likely to be living much longer as it is and hopefully be much healthier as they're entering retirement than even today's retirees are. So again, the quicker we can act, the better off we're going to be, the more modest and slow changing those tweaks to the system would be, and a much smoother process of adjusting to these reforms we would have.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

Last question for you, probably the biggest question. Let's talk about a call to action. You mentioned the polling indicates that people are kind of awakening.

I'm talking about real Americans awakening to the fact that something needs to be done. What should people do if you're a retiree, or at some point, you're going to be a retiree? Do you call your congressperson, your senator?

And also for someone like yourself, who is heavily involved with the staffers and people like that. I would imagine you're having regular conversations with these folks and kind of reminding them, hey, what about this? Or how about this?

Or etc. I don't know exactly how it works. But what's the call to action here?

I mean, what can we do to kind of move the needle?

Brett Loper, Peter G. Peterson Foundation

Yeah, I would say D all of the above. So the reality is, you'd be surprised if the 535 members of Congress, I bet there's still, you know, a handful who are unaware that this problem is out there. I suspect there are more than a handful who don't don't realize it's a 22% across the board cut.

I suspect there are a few that don't know it's coming by 2032. And so start with that cohort, making sure that they're educated, which is part of what we do on a daily basis at the Peterson Foundation. But to your point, if you're demanding of your senate candidates in 2026, that they have a plan to address this, that they answer questions when asked in debates or in town hall meetings or other events as they're doing, you know, running up to the election.

And they're forced to say, yeah, I'm going to work on this. I recognize there's a problem. I understand that it's going to take, you know, consensus among both parties.

This is not something that's going to be solved just by Republicans or just by Democrats. So say that up front and begin to give themselves some wiggle room to develop, you know, again, an appropriate consensus-based plan that does this in a modest, you know, transitional way. That's the type of thing that those voters ought to be asking of their elected officials today or their candidates for elected office today.

And of those who were, you know, who've been in office for many years and are anticipated to continue to serve in the Congress, doing the same thing, sending, dropping them an email, going on their website and doing the search for, you know, posting a comment, picking up the phone and call in their district office or their capital office and just saying, hey, I just wanted to register my views that this is an issue that I really hope you'll focus on.

And I hope you'll take the politics out of, you know, all of those tactics would help. I think the last thing I would point out, and I, you know, look, I really appreciate the opportunity to be on your program today. The more you can talk to your, you know, your friends, your neighbors, your parents, your family members, so that they're aware, you know, I think that has the, is necessary in order to really spread the word that this is, this is an issue that we're going to have to deal with as a society.

And all of that hopefully then, you know, results in action from our officials in Congress.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

Yeah, well, they should certainly read your blog post. And hey, if they get around to it, they should check out the show too. There's no reason why people can't.

I mean, it's just about informing people and about education. I think the more people are educated, the better are they are going to be as citizens and the better off our representatives will be to take their responsibilities to heart. Brett, we're going to have to leave it there.

Great to talk to you as always. Great, as I said, great blog post. And we look forward to having you back.

Hopefully, when we bring you back, there'll be some updates and we'll bring you back very soon. Thanks for joining us this morning.

Brett Loper, Peter G. Peterson Foundation

Cheers to that. Thank you.

Walmart's bestselling water-resistant hooded windbreaker is only $17

Annie O'Sullivan — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 11:15:00 GMT

TheStreet aims to feature only the best products and services. If you buy something via one of our links, we may earn a commission.

Why we love this deal

Everyone talks about the seasonal clothing swap out where the shorts and tank tops of summer get replaced with our sweaters, vests, and long pants. The thing is though, fall weather can be quite unpredictable, and while temperatures will certainly chill, the autumn season is better suited for medium-level layers that aren't overly warm. Winter requires heavy coats and jackets, but for September and October, the best piece of apparel you can have is a lighter jacket, like the Rosvigor Windbreaker, which protects you from rain but isn't overly heavy.

It's the best of both worlds, keeping you dry on those truly dreary fall or spring days, without leaving you sweaty because it's too warm. It might be hard to think about a change in season now when the heat is still pretty intense, but with a Walmart Flash deal going on right now the Rosvigor Windbreaker is 45% off, so you can get it on sale for just $17. By the time fall rolls around and the temperature drops, you'll be ready for anything.

Rosvigor Windbreaker, $17 (was $31) at Walmart

Why do shoppers love it?

Made with 100% polyester, this jacket is the long-lasting closet addition that will hold up through many seasons, not just this fall. Not only is it warm but it is water-resistant, so even when it’s rainy, you won't get wet. It is quick-drying when conditions resemble more of a downpour than a drizzle, repels light rain and snow to keep you dry, and blocks cold air with its tight woven knit.

Both windproof and waterproof, this hooded athletic jacket is lightweight and foldable, making it the perfect thing to take with you wherever you go. Great for travel, whether that be on a trip overseas or to the grocery store, it comes with a convenient carrying pouch that makes storage easy but accessible for the occasional surprise storm.

In addition to the drawstring hood, which can be adjusted for a tighter or looser fit around the head, the windbreaker has a zipper closure and elastic cuffs that keep heat in and water out. There are two zippered pockets which provide storage for keys or a phone, or simply are useful for keeping your hands warm.

Perfect for all seasons but particularly so for those in-between months where the weather is transitioning, you can wear this jacket indoors or outdoors, walking, cycling, picnicking, hiking, and enjoying other fun activities.

Details to know

Material: Polyester.
Sizes: S through 3XL.
Colors: Nine.
Care: Machine wash or hand wash then hang to dry.

"Truly as advertised," one shopper said. "This rain jacket is a great fit." It's so lightweight that shoppers say it feels like you're hardly even wearing a jacket. "Practical, useful, and attractive rain protection," another shopper said. "Excellent quality and workmanship."

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Stay warm and dry from all kinds of weather spring, summer, fall, or winter thanks to the Rosvigor Windbreaker.

Wall Street sends strong signal to Nvidia stock investors

Hillary Remy — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 11:07:00 GMT

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has spent years telling investors his chips are indispensable to the future of computing.

On Aug. 10, he tried something bolder, convincing some of the most powerful money managers on Wall Street to treat those same chips like an entirely new kind of investment. One that could be bought, sold, and borrowed against much like real estate or infrastructure.

The pitch worked, at least on paper.

Several of the biggest names in finance signed on within days, and the numbers involved are large enough to reshape how the AI buildout gets paid for going forward, at a moment when questions about who ultimately foots the bill have only gotten louder.

Jensen Huang says Nvidia AI chips are now an investable asset class

Nvidia signed memorandums of understanding with Apollo Global Management, Blackstone, BlackRock, Brookfield Asset Management, Goldman Sachs, and KKR to build financing platforms aimed at mobilizing more than $500 billion in third-party capital for hyperscalers, AI labs, and enterprises building data centers, according to CNBC.

Huang told CNBC he approached only those six firms about the idea, and none of them turned him down, framing the deal as proof that chips have become a genuine asset class for the first time, calling them revenue-generating, long-lived, and fungible, according to Benzinga.

Huang kept coming back to one analogy. A GPU rack, he said, is not a PC. It generates revenue. It lasts years. It can be moved from one customer to another. That is what makes it financeable the way a building or a toll road is financeable.

Whether that argument holds up over a 30-year bond depends entirely on whether AI demand stays as strong as the room full of asset managers in that CNBC interview clearly believes it will.

Here is how the money actually moves. A customer wants Nvidia chips but does not want to put $5 billion on its balance sheet. A financing platform buys the chips, leases them back to the customer, and collects payments tied to the compute revenue those chips generate. Nvidia backstops a portion of the residual value in some arrangements, which lets the lender charge a lower rate.

The customer gets the hardware. The lender gets a long-dated asset-backed return. Nvidia books a sale. Everybody gets what they want, as long as the revenue holds.

Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, and Blackstone CEOs back the $500B Nvidia deal

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon called the moment a pivotal point in a historic AI investment cycle. He said the firm's involvement reflects confidence in Nvidia's leadership and a chance to help create a credit market backed directly by Nvidia compute, according to CNBC.

Blackstone President Jon Gray compared the opportunity to how mortgage lenders evaluate homes, arguing AI compute will increasingly be viewed as a financeable asset in its own right, reported CNBC. He pointed to usage at Blackstone's own portfolio companies surging sevenfold this year as evidence demand is outrunning supply.

More Wall Street:

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink went further, describing the project as the start of the next era of financial engineering, comparable to the creation of mortgage-backed securities in the 1970s, and said BlackRock had already raised some funds with plans to raise substantially more, according to CNBC.

Nvidia shares closed down 2.86% at approximately $217.55 on the day of the announcement, even as the asset managers themselves surged. Blackstone advanced 4%, while Apollo and KKR both rose more than 6%, according to CNBC.

Markets appeared to read the consortium as confirmation that balance-sheet constraints are becoming a real ceiling on organic demand growth rather than as straightforwardly bullish news for the chipmaker itself.

Nvidia circular financing, debt concerns and the BIS warning

The numbers behind the debt story are worth knowing. Morgan Stanley is projecting nearly $570 billion in global AI-linked bond issuance in 2026, more than double last year.

Nvidia joined that wave on June 15, raising $25 billion in its first bond sale since 2021. The deal was targeting about $20 billion. Investors threw $85 billion at it, so the company took more, according to Bloomberg. The chipmaker at the center of the AI trade is now borrowing like everyone else building it.

Skeptics have raised a related concern for months, arguing that some of Nvidia's financing arrangements risk becoming circular, where Nvidia effectively helps fund the same customers who then use that money to buy Nvidia chips, complicating how cleanly outside observers can separate genuine demand from demand Nvidia itself is subsidizing.

The Bank for International Settlements flagged the resemblance to pre-2008 credit structures in its June 2026 Annual Economic Report. It specifically warned that the circular financing patterns in AI infrastructure could unwind faster than the 2008 banking crisis if sentiment reverses, as TheStreet reported.

Not every analyst views that structure as a red flag. Investor Louis Navellier has argued Nvidia is simply asserting the market dominance that comes with superior pricing power and technology, and said he has no plans to sell his position despite the circular financing narrative surrounding the company, as TheStreet reported.

The scrutiny extends beyond this one announcement. Nvidia's separate financing talks with OpenAI, reportedly worth roughly $250 billion as a backstop for a 10-gigawatt data center in Ohio, have drawn similar circular financing criticism from investors trying to trace where the money actually originated and where it ends up, according to CNBC.

Nvidia has increasingly positioned itself as a financier as much as a chipmaker.

Michael/Getty Images

What the $500B Nvidia deal means for NVDA stock investors

Nvidia has increasingly positioned itself as a financier as much as a chipmaker, a shift also visible in its July 27 deal with AI lab Safe Superintelligence, in which Nvidia invested approximately $5 billion and provided priority access to its Vera Rubin compute platform in exchange for research insights that will feed into Nvidia's future hardware development, as CNBC reported.

The demand side of the story still looks strong on paper. Goldman Sachs Research has repeatedly revised its hyperscaler capital spending estimates higher through the year, a trend Huang has pointed to directly when defending Nvidia's growth on AI infrastructure investments.

Whether Nvidia's chips genuinely behave like a durable, bankable asset class or simply extend the runway on an already leveraged buildout may not be settled for years.

For now, Wall Street's biggest lenders have decided the bet is worth taking, and their willingness to underwrite it may end up mattering to the AI trade as much as any single earnings report.

Walmart's bestselling $200 farmhouse shoe cabinet is now 47% off

Liz Sheldon — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 10:30:00 GMT

TheStreet aims to feature only the best products and services. If you buy something via one of our links, we may earn a commission.

Why we love this deal

It's so easy for shoes and other accessories to pile up in the entryway. After work, you're exhausted and just want to kick off your shoes, or the little ones toss their shoes off as they run inside, and they just keep getting overlooked until there's a huge pile and nowhere to put them. Adding storage space specifically for shoes and accessories can help keep the entryway, mud room, or other high-traffic areas easier to manage while going about your busy day.

The Hawsaiy Farmhouse Shoe Cabinet is a chic, affordable, and efficient way to help tidy up high-traffic areas. While it's made as a shoe cabinet, it also works well for storing your purse, hats, scarves, shopping bags, and other accessories that you regularly grab while leaving the house. At 47% off, shoppers can get this famous-style cabinet for just $106. That's a great deal!

Hawsaiy Farmhouse Shoe Cabinet, $106 (was $200) at Walmart

Why do shoppers love it?

This cabinet features six tiers of storage with adjustable shelves that can be moved to accommodate different types of footwear. From sneakers and flats to heels and tall boots, the flexible shelf arrangement offers easy customization that fits your needs. It can fit approximately 18-24 pairs of shoes, offering ample storage while maintaining a slim and space-saving profile for narrow entryways. The versatile construction and included anti-tipping kit also allow this cabinet to be used as a TV stand, coffee bar, or just a general storage solution, providing versatility for any home. The cabinet doors keep everything closed off and dust-free, while the open bottom shelf offers an easy-to-access space for small kids or shoes you use multiple times a week.

The cabinet is made from engineered wood and metal legs, and features stylish cross patterns and clean lines that fit into almost any aesthetic. It measures 45 inches tall, 13.8 inches deep, and 29.5 inches wide, with each shelf measuring between four and seven inches, including the adjustability. The doors feature magnetic strips to keep them closed when not in use, and the legs have adjustable height pads to help even out the cabinet on uneven flooring. The top shelf also features a back and side wall to prevent items from rolling or falling off, and gives it an expensive look.

Details to know

Size: It measures 45 inches tall, 13.8 inches deep, and 29.5 inches wide.
Color: The brown is the best price, but it also comes in black, gray, and white for $106.
Shelving: With five adjustable shelves and one open shelf, this unit can hold up to 24 pairs of shoes.

One reviewer said, "It is very cute and taller than I expected. It's for our mudroom for everyone to stick their shoes in, and the shoes fit in nicely. I can close the doors and hide all that mess."

"It's a reasonably priced shoe rack, and has plenty of space for our shoes. It's a nice-looking cabinet that hides all of our shoes that used to lie on the floor."

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Whether you need to clean up your shoes in the entryway or need a catchall in the mudroom, the Hawsaiy Farmhouse Shoe Cabinet is a great choice. It has ample space for storing accessories, shoes, electronics, and more, and includes an anti-tip kit for safety. Shoppers can save 47% on this cabinet, paying just $106 at Walmart.

Walmart's bestselling 5-tier farmhouse bookshelf and cabinet is just $95

Liz Sheldon — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT

TheStreet aims to feature only the best products and services. If you buy something via one of our links, we may earn a commission.

Why we love this deal

Having enough storage in your home to help tidy up without overwhelming the space can be difficult when you have all sorts of items to store. Investing in storage that offers multiple storage options makes it easier to find space for everything while choosing what you want on display and what you don't. Linens, electronics, and breakable items are best stored in closed storage to prevent dust and keep them safe, while items like books, storage baskets, or office supplies can easily sit on an open bookshelf, making them easy to find and use on a daily basis.

The Better Homes and Gardens Farmhouse Bookshelf Cabinet offers both open and closed storage, allowing you to keep your items tidy and easy to reach, providing large bookshelves and a spacious cabinet for just $95 at Walmart, saving shoppers 29%.

Better Homes and Gardens Farmhouse Bookshelf Cabinet, $95 (was $133) at Walmart

Why do shoppers love it?

This modern farmhouse design matches a variety of decor with white trim and wooden shelves and backing. The clean look works well with storage baskets, office supplies, books, and more, and provides spacious open shelving with two adjustable shelves and one fixed shelf, while the cabinet features two more shelves. Each shelf measures 12.4 inches deep and 25.6 inches wide, with adjustable heights. The open shelving section has siding to keep things in place while still allowing you to see everything, preventing your items from easily falling off. The wood color also makes a great base for decor, such as picture frames, homemade pottery, and plants.

The full bookshelf measures 29.5 inches wide, 14.5 inches deep, and 71 inches tall, featuring a good amount of storage space with a smaller footprint that can fit in most homes. This bookshelf would be perfect for the office, bedroom, laundry room, family room, or even work well as an entryway cabinet that can store shoes in the cabinet while offering space to set your handbag and accessories.

Details to know

Size: The whole bookshelf measures 29.5 inches wide, 14.5 inches deep, and 71 inches tall.
Storage: This unit provides open and closed storage with five shelves.
Design: The wooden shelves and white trim have a modern farmhouse look that fits into almost any aesthetic.

"This bookshelf is absolutely beautiful," said one shopper. "I would highly recommend it! It is sleek, modern, and fits my space perfectly. I can't believe the quality for the price."

Another reviewer said, "This bookcase looks great and is so chic! I love the deep shelves and the storage component at the bottom. I highly recommend it for an office or even a living room that needs additional and cute shelving!"

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If your home is in need of a little cleanup that keeps things tidy while also looking nice, the Better Homes and Gardens Farmhouse Bookshelf Cabinet is a great choice. For under $100, this adjustable five-shelf cabinet offers both closed and open storage for all sorts of items with a sleek design that fits with almost any decor. Shoppers can save $38 at Walmart.

Walmart's $116 4-pack of hypoallergenic hoop earrings is 87% off

Annie O'Sullivan — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 08:00:00 GMT

TheStreet aims to feature only the best products and services. If you buy something via one of our links, we may earn a commission.

Why we love this deal

Hoop earrings aren't everyone's cup of tea, but for accessory lovers who love the rounded look, there are so many great styles to choose from. When you think of a hoop earring, you might picture a larger, statement piece of an accessory, but there are lots of smaller, thinner styles that might fit your everyday wardrobe a bit better, and the Apsvo 4-Pack Hoop Earrings is a great example of that.

They're on the smaller size and yet they still have a lot of shine and sparkle to offer. Not only that, with a multi-pack like the Apsvo 4-Pack Hoop Earrings, you get four earrings for the price of one, and now with a Walmart Flash deal, you can get those four pairs for even cheaper than you typically could.

The Apsvo 4-Pack Hoop Earrings originally retail for $116, but during this limited-time sale you can get them up to 87% off. Save $101 and get the four-pack for just $15 during this temporary deal.

Apsvo 4-Pack Hoop Earrings, $15 (was $116) at Walmart

Why do shoppers love it?

Apsvo sells a variety of earrings in multi-packs, but this four-pack of hoop earrings features hoops in four distinctly different sizes to give you options when you're styling an outfit. Measuring 9 millimeters, 11 millimeters, 14 millimeters, and 16 millimeters, you can swap out the different sizes for different looks, or even wear multiple pairs at once if you have a few piercings in your ear.

The earrings all have a copper base with an 18K white gold plating. This combination creates a very durable, sturdy base with a more eye-catching and appealing silver-colored shine that prevents tarnishing or color deterioration. The hoop earrings feature a band of circular cubic zirconia stones which run the entire length of the earring from the front to the back closure. As a "huggie hoop" the earring closely hugs the lobe. Other hoops typically have a bit of space between the post and the earring itself.

And speaking of the post, what's unique about it is that it's made from S925 sterling silver, which offers durability and makes it a safe choice for sensitive skin. While copper and the white gold plating can't be guaranteed to be 100% nickel or lead-free, sterling silver is. It's also resistant to bending and breaking so it won't wear over time even if you choose to wear the earrings on a daily basis.

The hoops have a classic latchback closure, which provides a very secure but comfortable fit. The earrings come in a lovely box, making them perfect for gifting purposes.

Details to know

Material: Cubic zirconia, copper, 18K white gold plating, and sterling silver.
Dimensions: The earrings measure 9 millimeters, 11 millimeters, 14 millimeters, and 16 millimeters in diameter.
Closure: Latchback.

These hoops hit high marks across the board with shoppers. Folks find them so comfortable they sleep in them — although we advise taking them off when bathing or sleeping to preserve their quality. Nevertheless, the closure is secure and also comfortable, with no poking or prodding, and they don't tarnish or become discolored. "Well made with a high-quality appearance," one shopper said. "Very happy and they look fantastic," another chimed in.

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When you want to accessorize but don't want something over the top, the Apsvo 4-Pack Hoop Earrings is the perfect purchase to have on hand.

Amazon has a 2-in-1 laptop and tablet for only $60 that comes with a 5-piece accessories bundle

Pauline Lacsamana — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 05:00:00 GMT

TheStreet aims to feature only the best products and services. If you buy something via one of our links, we may earn a commission.

Why we love this deal

A tablet can be useful and convenient when you want to work and play on the go. They're great for everything from checking emails and writing up documents to streaming Netflix and scrolling through Instagram. If you're on a budget, there are a few tablets on our radar at Amazon, and one offers a ton at $60.

The Yqsavior 2-in-1 Android Laptop and Tablet is on sale for just $60 at Amazon, and you'll get a big bang for your buck with this pick. It comes with a tech accessories bundle that not only improves its functionality as a tablet, but can also turn it into a mini laptop.

Yqsavior 2-in-1 Android Laptop and Tablet, $60 at Amazon

Why do shoppers love it?

If you didn't think you could get a standard everyday tablet and laptop for under $100, think again. This two-in-one laptop and tablet features up to 2.0 gigahertz (GHz) processor, 8 gigabytes (GB) of RAM, and 32 GB of ROM that's expandable up to 1 terabyte (TB). The combination gives you great performance and potentially tons of storage for everyday computing tasks at an affordable price.

Running on the Android 15 operating system, you get some of the latest software that offers seamless performance and security. Its 10.1-inch screen is the sweet spot between a large laptop and a smartphone, making it more portable and easy to carry around, whether it's around the house or while you're traveling. The front and back cameras allow you to snap pics, take videos, and partake in video calls, and it has a reading mode that's designed to reduce eye strain. With a 6000-milliampere-hour (mAh) battery, you can get up to 12 hours of use on a single charge.

But the real kicker is the tech accessories it comes with. In the bundle, you get a wireless keyboard, a wireless mouse, a stylus, a case, and a charging cable that can essentially transform a basic tablet into a mini workstation. Not to mention, the price of the entire two-in-one laptop and tablet bundle can cost just as much, if not less, than the price of a single accessory from a more high-end brand.

Pros and cons of the Yqsavior 2-in-1 Android Laptop and Tablet

Pros

Productivity bundle: This tablet comes with a wireless keyboard, a wireless mouse, a stylus, a charging cable, and a case that make it more versatile than just a tablet. All the accessories plus the tablet also cost significantly less in this bundle compared to buying them individually.
Up-to-date operating system: It runs on Android 15, which is one of the latest software updates that provides enhanced security and performance.
Expandable storage: While the 32 GB storage is on the small side, it's expandable up to 1 TB with a micro SD card, which is impressive for a budget-friendly tablet.

Cons

Lower resolution: As a budget tablet, the 1280x800-pixel resolution is sufficient, but don't expect the clarity and sharpness of a more high-end tablet like the iPad 11 that has a resolution of 2360x1640 pixels.
Multitasking limitations: If you need to do basic tasks and run apps, this tablet can handle the job. But if you have too many apps running and tabs open simultaneously, it might start to lag.

According to Amazon shoppers, this laptop and tablet bundle offers a ton of value for the price. Customers highlighted the tech accessories bundle that includes everything you need to turn the tablet into a mini laptop. Reviewers say it's great for day-to-day tasks, and it's great for all ages, from kids to adults.

There's no denying that you get a lot for the price with this tablet combo, but don't expect Apple-level performance at this price or expect to use the tablet to do heavy-lifting or advanced gaming. "It runs Android 15 and handles basic tasks well enough," a reviewer said. "It can lag a bit when switching apps or doing a lot at once, but for browsing, videos, or everyday use, it works fine."

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Bottom line? If you need a budget-friendly tablet that's versatile, comes with all the accessories you need to turn it into a mini workstation, and performs basic computing tasks well, the Yqsavior 2-in-1 Android Laptop and Tablet is a great choice at only $60.

Walmart has $100 noise-canceling wireless earbuds for 85% off

Ashley Jones — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 04:15:00 GMT

TheStreet aims to feature only the best products and services. If you buy something via one of our links, we may earn a commission.

Why we love this deal

When you don't want the entire world to hear what you're listening to, a lightweight, high-quality pair of earbuds keeps your audio private. Headphones that let you listen to your favorite playlist or podcast without interference from the noise around you are a staple for traveling, commuting, or working out, but they're not always affordable. The best deal on noise-canceling earbuds right now is at Walmart, and you do not want to miss the chance to save $85 on this sleek pair.

Now available at an 85% discount, the Weurghy Wireless Earbuds are just $15, down from the usual $100 price tag. Shoppers are impressed by the AirPod-like performance of these earbuds, noting the especially clear sound quality and how well they fit. But because they're available in four colors, they offer more variety than premium brands.

Weurghy Wireless Earbuds, $15 (was $100) at Walmart