The financial news that actually matters
Profit at The Cato Corporation fell to $1.1 million in its second quarter, down from $6.8 million a year earlier, and the discount apparel retailer now says it expects to shut roughly 50 stores before its fiscal year ends. The plan sits in the company’s quarterly report for the period ended August 1, 2026, filed…
Three of Ikea’s small planning stores in the Washington region have closing dates. The Georgetown location in Washington, D.C. shuts on October 18, the Annapolis, Maryland store on October 30 and the Fairfax, Virginia store on November 30, all in 2026. For shoppers who have been sketching a kitchen or wardrobe project with a designer…
Ten whistleblowers just collected awards worth more than $150 million between them, and the agency that paid them says the program has now handed out more than $580 million since its first award in 2014. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced the batch on September 14, 2026, describing a program that is paid for by…
On October 5, 2026, 24 of the nation’s largest healthcare services companies were sent warning letters by the Federal Trade Commission over a basic consumer question: what will this cost? The agency’s message is that failing to give patients timely, accurate and complete prices for routine and scheduled non-emergency care can be an unfair or…
Lens.com’s search ads promised contact lenses at eye-catching prices, and the bill at the end of checkout was a different matter, according to a lawsuit filed on October 2, 2026. The Federal Trade Commission, the Utah Attorney General and the Nevada Attorney General say a mandatory “Taxes & fees” charge routinely doubled what shoppers expected…
Treasury printed 40.9 million paper checks in fiscal year 2025, and a rule it floated this spring would shrink that number sharply. The Bureau of the Fiscal Service proposed on April 29, 2026 to stop agencies from issuing paper checks except in a short list of situations. It is a proposal only: comments closed June…
Nobody has to file anything to receive an Amazon Prime refund, and that single design choice decides how the money arrives, who sends it and what can go wrong along the way. The Federal Trade Commission’s September 17, 2026 announcement describes a payment process with no application at all: the agency says the money is…
Some states will soon owe the federal government a share of the food stamp bill. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on June 24, 2026 that states whose payment errors run above a 6 percent threshold will have to cover 5, 10 or 15 percent of benefit costs, with implementation expected by October 1, 2027….
Beneficiaries who do not receive the new Medicare rebate by direct deposit will get a paper check from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has published the exact wording that check will carry. The one-time $90 payment is the product of the Medicare Improvement Fund, and a…
A single line item on a contact-lens order is at the center of a new federal court filing. The Federal Trade Commission alleges that the online seller Lens.com charged a mandatory fee under the name “Taxes & fees,” and that the wording, not any government, is what made the charge look like a tax. These…