BUSINESS

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

I moved from a cramped NYC apartment to a much larger three-bedroom home in the Midwest. To say I didn’t have enough furniture and decor to fill the space would be an understatement. I’m a frugal shopper, so as I’m slowly renovating the outdated rooms, I don’t mind waiting to save up for these high-ticket items. That being said, there were some pieces I couldn’t put off buying. 

In my old bedroom, there was no room for a nightstand, and all I had was a bedside shelf that attached to the headboard. It was bulky and cumbersome, so I gave it away before moving. I desperately needed something in my new place that had room to charge my smartphone and tablet, but I also needed a lamp. Reading in bed at night requires a light source, but the brightly lit overhead fixture is too bright, and it requires getting out of bed to switch off. 

Flawlessly fitting my needs, I found a floor lamp with storage shelves as its base. It was an affordable selection, costing around $50, and I use it daily. I never expected to like the practical piece of furniture this much, but it’s one of my favorite home purchases to date. 

2-in-1 floor lamps and shelves are a better value

If you’d like to try out one of these nifty lights for yourself, Walmart is a great spot to begin your search. The retailer has many affordable selections, and compared to buying a lamp and shelves separately, you’ll almost always get a better deal on these two-in-one styles. 

One of the best deals we’ve seen is on the Foukus 63-Inch Round Bookshelf Floor Lamp. The lamp with three rows of storage was originally priced at $70, but it’s now on clearance for just $39. It’s a top-rated lamp, with a 4.8 out of five-star rating, and it has adjustable color temperatures. During the day, you can enjoy a bright, white light, and in the evening you can switch to a golden yellow glow for a cozier ambiance.

Foukus 63-Inch Round Bookshelf Floor Lamp

Courtesy of Walmart

Check price at Walmart

Multipurpose floor lamps are the ultimate lighting

Before I stumbled across my accent light with storage, I didn’t realize there were so many multipurpose floor lamp designs. There are many lamps that come with built-in storage, making them perfect for small spaces where you can’t fit multiple pieces of furniture. Instead of making room for a table, shelves, and a light, you get the same benefits with the one fixture. A drawback of tabletop lamps is that they often eat into your surface space, but that issue is eliminated with this streamlined design. The lamp I own looks like a standard set of storage shelves with a lampshade on top, but there are also styles with end tables and drawers if you prefer to hide away messy clutter. 

These ultra-versatile lamps aren’t just a popular choice for brightening up the bedroom. You could also place them in the living room, home office, or den, or anywhere else around the home that could use some illumination and organization. If you have an extra-cozy armchair, you could also use one of these versatile lamps to create an instant reading nook. 

Walmart has another noteworthy deal on the Edishine Farmhouse Table and Floor Lamp, which is currently 42% off. This selection uses a side table with two shelves and two drawers as its base. It’s ideal for placing next to an accent chair, couch, or bed, and its built-in charging station adds another layer of convenience. Instead of paying the regular price of $100 for this charming and practical piece, you can score it for just $58, and it comes in walnut or black colors. 

Edishine Farmhouse Table and Floor Lamp

Courtesy of Walmart

Shop at Walmart

More floor lamps with storage deals

Everyone has their own interior decor preferences. Whether you like modern designs or rustic charm, there are two-in-one floor lamps with storage for a wide range of tastes available at Walmart. The lowest price we’ve found is on the AVV Floor Lamp with Shelves, which is on sale for $28. We’ve rounded up this deal and more to peruse below.

AVV Floor Lamp with Shelves

Courtesy of Walmart

Check price at Walmart

Sunmory 63-Inch White Floor Lamp with Shelves

Courtesy of Walmart

Check price at Walmart

Outon Boho Rattan Tripod Floor Lamp

Courtesy of Walmart

Check price at Walmart

Edishine 64-Inch Floor Lamp Shelf

Courtesy of Walmart

Check price at Walmart

Sunmory End Table Floor Lamp

Courtesy of Walmart

Check price at Walmart

Kathy Ireland 65-Inch Glass Tray Floor Lamp

Courtesy of Walmart

Check price at Walmart

Daybetter Tripod Shelf Floor Lamp

Courtesy of Walmart

Check price at Walmart

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.

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

Staying active can be difficult when work, errands, family, and other responsibilities compete for attention. A fitness tracker can make it easier to stay aware of your daily habits by showing you how much you’ve moved, how long you’ve exercised, and how well you’ve slept, and by offering phone call compatibility so you can look at your phone less. Health experts recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity each week, such as brisk walking that raises your heart rate, as well as two strength-building exercises per week, all of which can be easily tracked with a fitness watch. Having these metrics available throughout the day and data to look back on can help you set realistic goals and offer a look into monthly patterns. 

While name-brand watches can be expensive, Walmart is offering this $200 Geryst Smartwatch on sale for just $25 right now. It combines fitness tracking with everyday smartwatch features in a stylish design that works with both Android and iPhone. You can’t go wrong saving a huge 88% on this smartwatch. 

Geryst Smartwatch, $25 (was $200) at Walmart

Courtesy of Walmart

Shop at Walmart

Why do shoppers love it?

Fitness is one of the watch’s primary features, supporting more than 120 sport modes, including walking, running, cycling, yoga, and basketball, allowing you to keep track of a variety of activities. It features an IP68 waterproof rating, making it suitable for daily wear through washing hands and sweating. A built-in pedometer tracks daily steps, while exercise duration and automatic sleep monitoring offer insight into daily habits. The watch also includes sedentary reminders to encourage movement after extended periods of inactivity, helping you reach your goals even during work or weekend lounging. 

Related: What type of fitness tracker is right for you? Prices start at $20

This smartwatch also offers tons of everyday conveniences. Bluetooth connectivity offers access to make and answer calls directly from your watch after pairing it with your phone, and message notifications from supported apps can help you stay in the loop without constantly having your phone in hand, which often hinders productivity. Other built-in features include the weather forecast, music controls, alarms, timers, a stopwatch, voice assistant support, and even a phone finder. The watch takes about two hours to fully charge, and offers up to seven days of daily use for easy tracking.

The pros and cons of this deal

Pros

Tons of sports modes: With over 120 sports modes, you can track all your activities.

Long battery life: This watch lasts between five and seven days off one charge.

Cons 

No built-in cellular plan: This watch requires a Bluetooth pairing to allow calls.

Not intended for deep water swimming: The waterproof rating works for daily activity, but it’s not intended to be used for long bouts of swimming.

With over 100 watches sold in a day, and a 12-month warranty, this watch is a win. One reviewer said, “This is an excellent smartwatch, and great value for the price. The display is clear and bright, the battery lasts a long time, and it connects easily to an iPhone. It’s stylish, comfortable, and packed with useful features. I highly recommend it.”“The price is affordable, and the watch is of good quality,” another shopper said. “I wear my watch every day for work, and I use it to track my fitness.”

Shop more deals

Joautrial Smartwatch, $27 (was $160) at Walmart

Mingdaln Metal Band Smartwatch, $27 (was $200) at Walmart

Tikland Silver Smartwatch, $26 (was $190) at Walmart

With an 88% discount, the Geryst Smartwatch is an affordable and feature-rich option for those who are trying to be more health-conscious. It offers a long battery life, a variety of modes, and allows you to stay connected without keeping your phone with you at all times. For just $25, this sale is a great deal that won’t be around for long. 

Immediately after Donald Trump began his second term in the White House in January 2025 by ramping up his agenda of immigration enforcement and deportations, stories of tourists getting caught up in an anti-immigrant agenda began to emerge and multiple countries put out travel warning for their citizens.

Some of the countries to change and strengthen their advisories for the U.S. since 2025 include Canada, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Finland, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

“Even a slight overstay of the visa upon entry or exit can lead to arrest, detention, and deportation upon entry or exit,” the latter country’s Foreign Ministry wrote in its website in a section that previously had generic wording around respecting the laws of the country one is coming into.

“An elevated risk of politically motivated violence”: German Foreign Ministry to citizens coming to the U.S.

A year-and-a-half later, Germany has once again updated its travel advisory for U.S.-bound travelers. While the official rating remains unchanged at “exercise increased caution” (the U.S. State Department has the equivalent level two rating for Germany and several other European countries with large global capitals), new sections focus on the risk of terrorist attacks and political violence as well as immigration enforcement.

“In recent years, a steady decline in violent crime — particularly serious violent crime, has been observed in major American cities, although the overall burden of violent crime remains higher than in major German cities,” the crime section reads in translation from German. “Furthermore, there continues to be an elevated risk of politically motivated violence.”

Related: Another country tells citizens to avoid non-essential travel to the U.S.

A separate section on entry and visa requirements states the current administration’s focus on immigration enforcement and urges closely monitoring the dates permitted by one’s visa to not end up in a situation in which one ends up accidentally overstaying even by a few days or otherwise unknowingly running afoul of visa conditions.

The Trump administration’s anti-immigrant agenda has been pointed out in travel advisories for dozens of other countries.Image source: McCullough/Shutterstock

Germany tells travelers who overstayed visa to leave “before U.S. authorities take action”

“Do not overstay your authorized period of stay,” the section on customs and immigration reads. “Depart voluntarily if you have overstayed your authorized period of stay, and do so before U.S. authorities take action. This is generally possible without penalty, provided there are no other offenses involved; otherwise, you risk arrest and deportation.”

More Travel News:

Another low-cost airline is betting big on Guatemala travel

There is a very cool Irish version of swimming pigs in The Bahamas

Unexpected country is most luxurious travel destination for 2026

September and October are no longer the cheap time to book that trip

Under the current administration, international travel to the U.S. fell by more than four million visitors, from 72.3 million in 2024 to 68.3 million in 2025, by the time the full numbers for the year were calculated.

A similar 5.5% drop was observed in the first months of 2026 while, on the German side specifically, the number of international tourists coming into the U.S. has been down 13% compared to last year, even amid major events like the FIFA World Cup during the 2026 summer. The decline in tourism has hit regions and cities that rely on it, such as Las Vegas and many cities in Florida, particularly hard.

One report from research firm Tourism Economics calculated that this type of decrease resulted in the loss of approximately $18 billion for tourism in the U.S.

Related: The world’s best destination for opera is not where you think

Michael Burry has spent much of 2026 betting against Nvidia. He also bought calls on the stock. That’s a move that would look like a reversal from almost anyone else on Wall Street.

The move looks contradictory on the surface, but Burry laid out exactly why he made it. The reasoning says as much about his broader AI skepticism as it does about Nvidia specifically. It also arrived at an unusually consequential moment for the stock.

Michael Burry buys Nvidia calls while betting against the stock

Burry bought December Nvidia calls with strikes set in the mid-to-high $200s ahead of the chipmaker’s earnings, while simultaneously adding to his short position in the stock. He described the calls as a hedge rather than a bullish trade, Benzinga reported.

“I am not playing for gains here,” Burry wrote in the Substack post, adding that he would not have made the trade at all without such a large existing short and put position to offset. The call options account for roughly 3.5% to 4% of his portfolio.

More Nvidia:

Nvidia just made a move Wall Street wasn’t ready for

Nvidia just locked down deal that changes AI race

Nvidia stock is doing something it hasn’t done in years

Nvidia was not the only name in the trade. Burry also added to his short positions in Oracle, Palantir and Nebius, pushing his total short stock position above 21% of his portfolio, excluding puts. He separately added to long positions in Birkenstock and Freddie Mac, according to Cryptonomist.

Nvidia had closed at $217.56 the prior week, down slightly on the day but still up roughly 17% year to date heading into the report. The Substack post carried a pointed title, “Nvidia, Friends, and the Rebel Alliance.” Burry has acknowledged that his past attempts at hedging around Nvidia earnings with short-dated options have produced inconsistent results.

Nvidia earnings beat and August 27 stock reaction

The timing of Burry’s move lined up with one of the most closely watched earnings reports of the year. Nvidia posted adjusted earnings of $2.22 per share for its fiscal second quarter, beating the $2.09 consensus estimate, while revenue climbed 106% year over year to $96.2 billion, well above the $92.27 billion Wall Street had expected, CNBC reported.

Nvidia also issued an unusually bold outlook. The company guided to more than $108 billion in revenue for its current quarter, plus or minus 2%. More unusually, CFO Colette Kress said Nvidia expects revenue growth of 70% for fiscal 2028, nearly twice what analysts had expected, according to CNBC. Supply commitments more than doubled from $119 billion last quarter to $279 billion, primarily related to memory procurement.

The reaction broke a pattern that had frustrated Nvidia bulls for several quarters. Shares had fallen the day after earnings in multiple consecutive quarters despite consistently strong results, but this time the stock surged roughly 8% on August 27, as TheStreet reported. Nvidia’s market capitalization had already topped $5 trillion earlier this year, and the rally on August 27 pushed the company further into record territory.

Wall Street’s own expectations heading into the report had already been high. Fifty-eight of 61 analysts covering Nvidia rated it a buy, with an average price target of $305.41 heading into the print, implying more than 43% upside from where shares closed the prior week, as TheStreet reported.

Burry also added to his short positions in Oracle, Palantir and NebiusKiyoshi/Getty Images

Why Burry still doesn’t believe the AI story

Despite the blowout numbers, Burry has not backed off his skepticism. He said Nvidia stock has fallen more often than it has risen after earnings recently. Yet he argued the current price is “not congruent with the market’s narrative.” He even called the stock “wildly undervalued” on paper given its low price-to-earnings ratio for a company commanding what he described as monopoly rents, according to U.Today.

That undervaluation claim comes with a major caveat. Burry said his own theoretical value for Nvidia sits well below today’s market price, arguing the stock has been “treading water” compared to its performance in recent years despite the headline growth numbers, according to U.Today.

Burry’s core worry is about capital returns rather than growth itself. He said Nvidia “will not distribute enough to shareholders,” and warned that the company’s investment “into and through the top of the bubble” could eventually produce “shocking reductions in earnings” that arrive faster than most investors currently expect, as TheStreet reported.

This is not a new position for Burry. He has been building a version of this argument since at least May, when he compared Nvidia’s revenue recognition practices in certain AI financing deals to Cisco during the dot-com era. He used the analogy to argue that legal and disclosed accounting does not automatically mean the underlying risk is well distributed, according to Cryptonomist.

What Burry’s Nvidia bet means for investors

For investors, Burry’s own framing of the earnings reaction is worth taking seriously. He called the potential outcome “but a coin flip” ahead of the report, adding that “the market does not believe” the AI growth story the way it once did, even if belief gets temporarily restored on a strong quarter like this one.

The gap between Burry’s short position and Wall Street’s near-unanimous bullishness is now about as wide as it has been all year. That divide does not resolve with one earnings report, since Burry’s thesis is built around multi-year concerns about capital spending and shareholder returns rather than any single quarter’s results.

Investors should watch two things going forward: whether Nvidia’s next few quarters show the buyback and dividend commitments Burry says are currently lacking, and whether the broader AI infrastructure spending cycle continues at its current pace or shows the kind of slowdown Burry has been positioning against since earlier this year.

Related: Bank of America doubles down on Nvidia stock

While fall fashion has traditionally always been associated with sweater weather and the return of outerwear, changing weather in many parts of the world means that the warmer season lasts longer and September is not yet the time to break out the warm clothes.

For those who fly or otherwise adventure regularly, travel fashion already needs to be adaptable to different weather zones.

As September and October increasingly move from shoulder season to some of the most popular times of the year to book a trip, travel fashion trends identified by publications like Vogue and Who What Wear this year include easily-packable sweaters, wide-leg pants that can be turned into a variety of outfits and flats in neutral colors that can be one’s main or even only footwear on a short trip. On the luggage side, expandable packing cubes and foldable travel bags are also perennially popular due to their space-saving utility.

Long flight pants, nautical jackets and packable luggage: some fall 2026 travel fashion trends

Originally launched for the cooler weather Norwegian spring and summer, the new Helly Hansen Marine Heritage collection offers a selection of nautical-style light rain jackets that are a particularly good option for between-season weather.

California swimwear brands La Blanca and Body Glove also sell both swimwear and transitional pieces such as wide-leg puckered up pants and various tunic and caftan cover-ups that are designed to be easy to stuff into a suitcase.

Related: The TikTok luggage video is actually completely wrong

Another emerging brand that was recently featured on Oprah’s Favorite Things is K’lani: the hair ties in earthy colors and with whimsical accents are designed to also be worn as bracelets that one can pop off and use to tie up one’s hair while on th go.

Cincha Travel makes foldable tote bags with a bottom that can expand by an additional four inches.Cincha Travel

Very practical for travel, expandable bags and luggage are having a major moment

For those traveling with kids, Colorado-based DAGS launched a bag brand after realizing that there was a void in the industry for a “dad bag” for men transporting diapers and other baby items — the original OG version is a sleek black backpack made of wipe-clean fabric and that doubles into a supply tray when opened.

Tapping into the continued trend of travel bags that fold and expand depending on the needs that may arise while traveling, Cincha Travel offers a range of vegan leather and regular fabric totes that come with a bottom zipper to expand it by four inches and be even more capacious when the few souvenirs one bought on holiday need to be taken out of the suitcase to fall within the airline’s weight limit.

More Travel News:

Airline to launch unusual new flight to Cayman Islands from the U.S.

There is a very cool Irish version of swimming pigs in The Bahamas

Unexpected country is most luxurious travel destination for 2026

Low-cost airline launches easier way to get to Sri Lanka

According to a recent report from Fortune Business Insights, foldable and collapsible bags made up 11% of the global travel bag market in 2025 while that number is slated to grow significantly faster than any other segment in one of the biggest fashion trends that emerged over the last few years.

And when it comes to the things that one typically puts inside the bag on one’s travels, household lip balm brand ChapStick has expand beyond its core solid stick product with the launch of the new Hydrabalm squeze tubes in flavors such as cherry, vanilla, watermelon and guava as well as a flavorless lip repair balm.

Related: Popular tourist destination adds ‘bikini ban’

Car insurers collected far more in premiums than they needed to cover claims last year, and they kept the surplus long enough for it to hit record levels before returning any of it. State Farm’s results reveal just how wide that gap can be.

State Farm, still the nation’s largest auto insurer by number of vehicles covered, though in terms of the total dollar amount paid in insurance premiums, recently overtaken by Progressive, announced a $5 billion one-time cash dividend to policyholders, covering more than 49 million insured vehicles.

It is the largest dividend in the company’s century-plus history, and the timing reveals where the entire auto insurance profit cycle stands.

Payments will average about $100 per vehicle, ranging from 4% to 10% of the premium each policyholder paid during 2025, State Farm’s release showed.

The check is only half the story, because the same margins driving this payout are showing up at every major auto insurer in the country.

State Farm’s mutual structure made this record payout possible

State Farm operates as a mutual insurer, meaning its policyholders are its owners. When premiums collected far exceed claims and operating costs, mutual insurers can accumulate substantial excess surplus capital over time. 

Without outside shareholders on Wall Street to absorb that surplus, policyholder dividends become the primary means of returning excess capital directly to State Farm’s owners.

State Farm’s auto book swung from years of underwriting losses into a surplus large enough to fund a $5 billion cash return.

The payout was driven by underwriting performance that exceeded expectations across the entire industry, State Farm noted in its announcement.

Beyond the dividend, the insurer lowered auto rates in 40 states by an average of 10%, saving customers an estimated $4.6 billion per year.

“As a mutual company, State Farm is able to provide value directly to our customers while maintaining financial strength to keep our promises in the future,” said Jon Farney, State Farm’s president and chief executive, in the announcement.

State Farm serves more than 96 million policies and accounts nationwide, making it the largest property and casualty insurer in the country by that measure.

Progressive and Allstate are sitting on the same windfall

Progressive and Allstate posted similar margins in the second quarter of 2026, translating into record earnings rather than policyholder dividends.

Progressive posted a companywide property-liability combined ratio of 87.3 for the quarter, with net income of $3.3 billion and more than 40 million policies in force. 

A combined ratio below 100 means the insurer earns a profit on premiums alone, and Progressive has remained below 90 for several consecutive quarters.

More Automotive:

Toyota doubles down on EVs while rivals retreat

Mazda just made a big change under tariff pressure

Key auto parts maker closes factory, lays off 325 workers

The carrier recently overtook State Farm as the largest personal auto writer in the country by the total dollar amount paid in premiums, having already passed GEICO for the No. 2 spot in 2022, S&P Global May 2026 research showed.

Progressive has also cut auto rates in 30 states, covering 63% of its premium base, CollisionWeek reported.

Allstate reported a property-liability combined ratio of 86.6 for the same period, a 4.5-point improvement from the prior year, with net income of nearly $3.2 billion. Allstate returned $3.5 billion to shareholders over the previous 12 months.

Tom Wilson, Allstate’s chief executive, said the company cut premiums for 7.8 million auto and homeowner customers by an average of 17% during 2025, according to its February earnings release.

Progressive and Allstate posted near-record insurance margins.pain au chocolat / Getty Images

Industry data suggests the auto insurance profit cycle has peaked

Auto insurance premiums climbed 64% between September 2020 and September 2025, driving a profitability surge the industry had not seen in a generation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Saurabh Khemka, president of Verisk Underwriting Solutions, said in a statement that the record 2025 results were largely a product of unusually mild catastrophe activity, cautioning that the strength may not carry into future years.

“The industry delivered one of its strongest underwriting results in years in 2025, supported by a near-record low combined ratio, but that outcome was driven more by unusually low catastrophe losses rather than a fundamental shift in industry risk,” Khemka said. 

The U.S. property and casualty sector recorded its strongest first-quarter underwriting performance in at least 25 years during early 2026. 

The overall industry combined ratio hit 89.1% before policyholder dividends during the first quarter, S&P Global Market Intelligence reported in its May 2026 analysis.

Whether lower rates will last through your next renewal

S&P Global Market Intelligence projects that industrywide auto combined ratios will edge up to 97.1 in 2026 and 98.9 in 2027 before breaching breakeven again in 2028, according to Carrier Management’s analysis of firm’s U.S. Auto Insurance Market Report.

That timeline tracks the pattern State Farm described, where the surplus behind this record dividend built up over the same loss years.

The surplus is flowing out as dividends at State Farm, rate cuts at Progressive, and shareholder buybacks at Allstate. 

But Jason Woleben, a research analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence, cautioned that the industry appears near the top of the cycle, with many carriers already cutting rates, and that profitability could drop quickly if a major catastrophe hits, InsuranceNewsNet reported.

That means the rate relief showing up in renewal quotes right now may be the deepest discount this cycle produces. 

Whether that relief survives your next renewal depends on timing, which no one in the industry can pin down. The clearest signal of where any individual policyholder sits in that cycle is the gap between last year’s premium and this year’s renewal quote.

Related: State Farm $5B dividend: How to find out if you qualify