The financial news that actually matters
A wine importer that challenged Trump-era tariffs in federal court has received a six-figure refund check from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, one of the first confirmed payouts under a new electronic system built to process claims tied to duties the Supreme Court struck down. The payment arrived through CBP’s Consolidated Administration and Processing of…
Customers who break open a certificate of deposit before its maturity date can forfeit months of earned interest in a single transaction. Federal banking rules require institutions to disclose early-withdrawal penalties but place no ceiling on how steep those penalties can be. The result is a system where the fine print, not the advertised rate,…
Any investor in the United States can look up a broker or financial adviser’s registration status, disciplinary history, and fee disclosures at no cost before committing a single dollar. The SEC and the North American Securities Administrators Association jointly built the electronic system that makes this possible, and the public-facing search tool has been live…
Eddie Bauer, the 106-year-old outdoor apparel brand, is liquidating all of its stores across the United States and Canada after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the District of New Jersey. Roughly 174 store leases covering more than 1.08 million square feet are now being marketed to potential tenants, and going-out-of-business sales are underway…
Investors holding state and local government debt receive a tax break that directly reduces their federal income-tax bills. Under the Internal Revenue Code, gross income does not include interest earned on most bonds issued by states, cities, counties, and their political subdivisions. The exemption, codified in Section 103 of Title 26, applies broadly but carries…
Two small banks with combined assets under $550 million have closed in 2026, and both failures trace back to deteriorating commercial real estate portfolios. Metropolitan Capital Bank and Trust in Chicago shut down on January 30 after reporting $261.1 million in total assets. Community Bank and Trust, West Georgia, in LaGrange followed on May 1…
Broadcom Inc. saw its stock drop roughly 12 percent after the company filed its second-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings release, pulling the broader chipmaker sector down by about 10 percent. The sell-off reignited a sharp debate among investors: is the AI spending boom a durable growth story, or is it one big bubble built on front-loaded…
Cardholders who let a $5,000 revolving balance sit while paying only the monthly minimum can watch that debt linger for more than a decade, according to the repayment math built into federal disclosure rules and the interest rate data the Federal Reserve tracks each month. The dynamic is not hypothetical: federal law requires every credit…
More than 156,000 U.S. workers have already lost their jobs this year in layoffs that employers publicly attributed to artificial intelligence, a figure that accounts for roughly 56 percent of all announced cuts so far. The number, drawn from employer press releases and corporate statements, has moved faster than any official government tally can confirm…
Savers holding cash at the largest U.S. banks are still earning next to nothing on their deposits, even as online competitors continue to offer annual percentage yields near 4 percent. The gap is not new, but the FDIC’s January 2026 national rates data confirms it has not closed. Bank of America Advantage Savings, for example,…