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Wall Street has a short memory for companies it has already written off. Once a stock gets labeled a lost cause, the label tends to outlive the facts, because updating a story takes more effort than repeating one.Movie theaters have worn that label since 2020. The industry lost most of its audience during the Covid shutdowns, then lost a chunk of what came back to bigger televisions, shorter waits before a film hits streaming, and a subscription service in nearly every living room.The standard analysis became a melting ice cube. Attendance drifts a little lower each year, chains close screens to protect margins, and the only real debate is how slowly the decline plays out.That thesis has always carried one weakness inside it. Theater chains sit on enormous fixed costs, so the same math that punishes them in a weak year flips hard in the other direction the moment enough people actually show up.Enough people showed up. AMC Entertainment (AMC) reported second-quarter results before the bell on Monday, July 20, and the company cleared a profit mark it had never reached in 106 years of operating.Why movie-theater economics swing so violentlyA theater chain is close to a pure fixed-cost business. Rent, insurance, projection equipment, and a baseline of staffing are all paid for, whether an auditorium holds 12 people or 120.That is why exhibition looks dire in a weak year and looks like a different industry in a strong one. Every incremental ticket sold after the fixed costs are covered drops almost straight to the bottom line.More Streaming:Disney weighs new free offering as consumers ditch paid streamingHollywood’s next streaming gamble stars an actor who isn’t humanNetflix joins Disney and YouTube in chasing World CupThe second quarter put hard numbers on that idea. Operating expense, excluding depreciation and amortization, landed at $458.4 million, matching the prior year to the decimal, while rent moved only from $222.6 million to $223.8 million, according to AMC’s second-quarter earnings release.Revenue over that same stretch climbed by roughly $199 million.I have covered enough exhibitor quarters to know that flat costs paired with rising revenue is the only combination that ever repairs a debt-heavy theater chain. Everything else is cosmetic.

AMC welcomed 52.5 million moviegoers in U.S. theaters during the second quarter of 2026.Maskot / Getty Images

What AMC’s record second quarter actually deliveredTotal revenues reached $1.597 billion, up 14.2%, and adjusted EBITDA hit $321.4 million, the first time the company has ever cleared $300 million in a single quarter, according to AMC’s earnings release. Adjusted EBITDA is what is left after stripping out interest, taxes, and the accounting charge for aging assets, which makes it the number lenders watch most closely.The gap against expectations was not subtle. Adjusted profit arrived at 14 cents per share against forecasts for a loss of 6 cents, with revenue estimates sitting at $1.47 billion, reported Reuters, citing LSEG data.AMC chairman and chief executive Adam Aron did not undersell it. In 106 years, “never before has AMC had such superb results,” he said in the release.Here is the AMC’s second-quarter earnings release at a glance:Total revenue of $1.597 billion, up from $1.398 billion Adjusted EBITDA margin of 20.1%, up from 13.6% a year earlierU.S. attendance of 52.5 million patrons, up 12%International attendance up 17.9%, with segment adjusted EBITDA of $35.8 millionFree cash flow of $190.1 million, versus $88.9 million a year agoIndustry-wide domestic box office of roughly $2.99 billion, up 10.7%Six separate films opened above $75 million domestically during the quarter, and Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” followed with a reported $124 million debut in July, reported Reuters.Notably, the average U.S. ticket price actually slipped to $12.70 from $12.77. The record came from volume, not from charging moviegoers more.Management says that is deliberate. “We can grow our revenue per patron without necessarily increasing price,” chief financial officer Sean Goodman told analysts, according to TheWrap.More than half of AMC’s U.S. guests during the quarter were Stubs loyalty members, according to The Wrap, which is the payoff.The per share math behind AMC’s blockbuster numbersHere is where my analysis parts ways with the celebration.AMC survived the past six years by selling stock, repeatedly. Diluted weighted average shares outstanding hit 722.0 million in the second quarter, up from 433.1 million a year earlier, according to the earnings release.That is 66.7% more owners splitting the same pie.Related: AMC makes bold call that sends its stock crashingI ran the record adjusted EBITDA figure against that share count, and the result reframes the quarter entirely. Adjusted EBITDA per share worked out to roughly 44.5 cents, against about 43.7 cents in the same quarter last year.A 69.6% jump in adjusted EBITDA became a 1.7% gain per share.The debt load absorbs most of the rest. Interest expense of $136 million consumed 57% of the $238.1 million in operating income, and stockholders’ equity remains negative at about $1.45 billion, the earnings release revealed.Sell-side reaction reflected that split. “While there’s still more work to do here, this was a source of hope,” wrote B. Riley Securities analyst Drew Crumb, according to Deadline.Others stayed skeptical about the durability of the turn. “Strong quarters, like this one, will happen now and again,” said eMarketer senior analyst Ross Benes, Reuters reported.What the rest of 2026 decides for AMC investorsThe near-term calendar is the bull case. Aron pointed to “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” arriving in two weeks, with “Dune: Part Three” and “Avengers: Doomsday” landing before Christmas.The balance sheet has bought time to find out whether that slate delivers. AMC pushed its next meaningful debt maturity out to 2029 and expects lower borrowing costs to trim roughly $51 million more from annual interest expense if current conditions hold, the earnings release confirmed.Analysts have started to move. Texas Capital upgraded the stock to buy and lifted its target to $3 from $2, according to TipRanks.For anyone holding shares, the question for the second half is narrower than it looks. It is not whether the box office recovers, because the second quarter settled that.It is whether AMC can go a full 12 months without issuing more stock. Do that, and the fixed-cost math finally works for existing shareholders instead of for the next round of buyers.Fail, and 2026 becomes one more record the owners of this company never got to keep.Related: AMC plans free perk for loyal customers amid struggles

Plus, investors just found out when insiders can start dumping their shares.

3M (MMM) raised its 2026 profit forecast on July 21, as stronger demand and price increases helped its safety and industrial business post a better second quarter.The company reported adjusted earnings of $2.40 a share on sales of $6.5 billion. It now expects full-year adjusted earnings of $8.80 to $8.95 per share, up from its previous forecast of $8.50 to $8.70.3M shares rose about 8.86% to $173.21 in midday trading on July 21, making the stock one of the stronger performers in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.”We delivered a strong second quarter, exceeding expectations with mid-single-digit sales growth, robust operating margins of about 25%, and double-digit EPS growth,” said 3M chairman and CEO, William Brown.The beat-and-raise quarter was the main reason for the move. But 3M also gave investors a more unusual growth story to watch: a small optical-connectivity business that is beginning to appear in artificial intelligence data centers.3M and Microsoft (MSFT) said last week that Microsoft Azure would become the first announced hyperscale cloud provider to deploy 3M’s Expanded Beam Optical technology. The product is designed for fiber connections in dense data-center environments, where dust, vibration, and small alignment problems can interfere with high-speed data transmission.3M’s industrial business drives the profit raiseThe safety and industrial segment remained the main source of strength. The business sells products used in personal safety, industrial adhesives, abrasives, electrical markets, and automotive aftermarket applications.Reuters reported that continuing demand and price hikes in the unit helped drive 3M’s higher profit forecast. The company said pricing should fully offset the profit impact from oil-related inflation.Related: 3M: The history behind the massive global conglomerate3M’s transportation and electronics business also improved. The Wall Street Journal reported that safety and industrial sales rose 7.5% to $3.09 billion, while transportation and electronics sales increased 6.2% to $2.07 billion.Those numbers help explain why the earnings report, rather than the Microsoft partnership alone, drove Tuesday’s move. 3M’s near-term profit story still comes from demand, pricing, and margin improvement in its core businesses.3M finds a new opening inside AI data centersAI data centers rely on dense fiber networks that carry information among servers, chips, and networking equipment. Dust, vibration, and connector misalignment can weaken optical signals, especially when equipment is installed, moved, or serviced.3M says its Expanded Beam Optical technology expands and collimates light inside fiber connections, making them less sensitive to contamination or movement.Microsoft’s deployment gives EBO a named hyperscale customer and places 3M in a less visible layer of the AI buildout: the physical network that moves data between computing systems.More AI:The new Chinese AI model rattling U.S. tech investorsAnthropic restores access to Mythos 5 for select organizationsSoftBank CEO offers stinging critique of Musk’s AI betFor 3M, it is supplying a component that helps dense data-center systems maintain faster, more reliable optical connections, rather than chips, cloud contracts, and electricity demand. Brown told analysts on July 21 that EBO revenue could grow four to five times from its current annual level of $40 million to $50 million.Key numbers behind 3M’s quarter and AI opportunity$2.40: 3M’s second-quarter adjusted earnings per share$6.5 billion: 3M’s second-quarter sales$8.80 to $8.95: 3M’s new 2026 adjusted earnings forecast$8.50 to $8.70: 3M’s previous 2026 adjusted earnings forecast7.5%: Safety and industrial sales growth$40 million to $50 million: Current annual revenue level for EBOFour to five times: Potential EBO revenue growth cited by CEO William Brown

3M’s industrial, transportation, and electronics departments are performing well.wellesenterprises / Getty Images

3M’s AI opportunity starts from a small baseAt $40 million to $50 million in current annual revenue, EBO is tiny compared with 3M’s overall business. 3M generated $6.5 billion in sales in the second quarter alone.Even a four- or fivefold increase would put EBO’s annual revenue at roughly $160 million to $250 million, still small compared with 3M’s multibillion-dollar safety, industrial, transportation, and electronics businesses.Azure’s deployment gives 3M a credible customer in a fast-growing data-center market, but the company’s 2026 earnings outlook still depends mostly on industrial demand, pricing, cost control, and margin improvement.A broader rollout among hyperscale cloud providers would make EBO a more visible growth driver. Limited adoption would leave it as a useful but relatively small extension of 3M’s electronics portfolio.July 21’s rally still largely reflected 3M’s beat-and-raise quarter. The Microsoft partnership raises a different question for the next few quarters: whether EBO can move from a small optical-connectivity product into a meaningful niche in the AI data-center supply chain.Related: Microsoft CEO’s Anthropic criticism reveals bigger AI power struggle

“The strongest argument for claiming benefits earlier goes beyond the traditional break-even analyses.”

Google DeepMind today released three new proprietary AI models it says are among its most token-efficient yet: Gemini 3.6 Flash, Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite, and Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber. The models aim to make AI agents faster, smarter, and cheaper at scale. Google is pricing Gemini 3.6 Flash at $1.50 per one million input tokens and $7.50 per one million output tokens through its application programming interface (API), while Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite costs a staggeringly cheap $0.30/$2.50 per million tokens in/out. Compare that to the $1.50/$9.00 per 1M tokens for Gemini 3.5 Flash, and the $2/$12 for Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview, and the savings are considerable. However, Google’s prior generation Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite still remains the search giant’s “most cost-efficient” model at $0.25/$1.50 per 1M tokens. Yet, it remains 2X slower than the new, more expensive Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite, giving those enterprises who value speed more “bang” for their buck. VB Frontier AI Model API Pricing Comparison Chart (Late July 2026 Shortlist)ModelInput ($/1M)Output ($/1M)Total ($/1M)SourceMiMo-V2.5 Flash$0.10$0.30$0.40Xiaomideepseek-v4-flash$0.14$0.28$0.42DeepSeekdeepseek-v4-pro$0.435$0.87$1.305DeepSeekMiniMax-M3$0.30$1.20$1.50MiniMaxLongCat-2.0 — limited-time promo$0.30$1.20$1.50LongCatGemini 3.1 Flash-Lite$0.25$1.50$1.75GoogleQwen3.7-Plus$0.40$1.60$2.00Alibaba CloudMiMo-V2.5$0.40$2.00$2.40XiaomiGemini 3.5 Flash-Lite$0.30$2.50$2.80GoogleLongCat-2.0 — standard$0.75$2.95$3.70LongCatMiMo-V2.5 Pro (≤256K)$1.00$3.00$4.00XiaomiGLM-5.2$1.40$4.40$5.80Z.aiGPT-5.6 Luna$1.00$6.00$7.00OpenAIGrok 4.5$2.00$6.00$8.00xAIMiMo-V2.5 Pro (>256K)$2.00$6.00$8.00XiaomiGemini 3.6 Flash$1.50$7.50$9.00GoogleQwen3.7-Max$2.50$7.50$10.00Alibaba CloudGemini 3.5 Flash$1.50$9.00$10.50GoogleGemini 3.1 Pro Preview (≤200K)$2.00$12.00$14.00GoogleGPT-5.6 Terra$2.50$15.00$17.50OpenAIGPT-5.4$2.50$15.00$17.50OpenAIKimi K3$3.00$15.00$18.00Moonshot AIGemini 3.1 Pro Preview (>200K)$4.00$18.00$22.00GoogleClaude Opus 4.8$5.00$25.00$30.00AnthropicGPT-5.5$5.00$30.00$35.00OpenAIGPT-5.5 Instant (chat-latest)$5.00$30.00$35.00OpenAISakana Fugu Ultra (≤272K)$5.00$30.00$35.00Sakana AIGPT-5.6 Sol$5.00$30.00$35.00OpenAIClaude Fable 5 / Claude Mythos 5$10.00$50.00$60.00AnthropicNo price was provided yet for the specialty Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber model, which, as its name would imply, is designed for cybersecurity researchers and red teamers to patch bugs. While the prices are among the middle-low end of all major AI models globally, the fact that Google designed them to use less tokens overall also should drive down costs for enterprises beyond what the sticker price shows (since you’ll be paying for fewer total tokens at any rate). Gemini 3.6 Flash and Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite are available immediately through the Gemini API in Google AI Studio and Android Studio, as well as within the consumer Gemini application and Google Search. According to a separate Google blog post, Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber will be available “exclusively available to governments and trusted partners via CodeMender soon” — CodeMender being Google’s proprietary AI code bug-fixing agent released last year. As with previous Gemini models, these are all proprietary and “closed source,” thus, they can only be obtained through Google’s official API and that of its partners, as opposed to an open-source license like MIT or Apache 2.0. One conspicuous omission noted by developers on X and social media: where is the larger, more powerful, flagship Gemini 3.5 Pro model Google previously alluded would be released this summer? After all, Gemini 3.1 Pro, the prior flagship, debuted back in February 2026, and rivals OpenAI and Anthropic have since released several more generations of flagship updates far more powerful than Google’s. Google technical staffer Logan Kilpatrick responded to one such inquiry on X, writing: “Gemini 3.5 Pro is currently testing with partners and we plan to make it broadly available as soon as it’s ready.” Google’s release signals that the immediate future of AI lies in agentic capabilities—systems that operate autonomously over extended periods. If early large language models are akin to massive, fuel-hungry freight trains capable of hauling incredible loads at immense cost, the new Flash series represents a fleet of nimble, hyper-efficient hybrid delivery vans.Efficiency gains ranging from 17% to 65% reduced tokens for strong results on third-party benchmarksUnder the hood, Gemini 3.6 Flash achieves significant efficiency gains. The model reduces output token usage by 17% compared to its predecessor, Gemini 3.5 Flash, according to the Artificial Analysis Index maintained by the independent third-party AI benchmarking group of the same name. In specific long-horizon software engineering benchmarks like DeepSWE, which measures how well agents complete multi-step engineering tasks from scratch, the token savings reach up to 65%. This reduction means the model requires fewer reasoning steps and tool calls to complete the exact same multi-step workflow. Think of token efficiency like fuel economy in a vehicle. When an AI model takes a convoluted path to solve a problem, it burns through more computational fuel, driving up the final cost for the developer. By streamlining its internal logic, Gemini 3.6 Flash arrives at the correct answer faster and cheaper.While Google’s materials did not specify the exact architectural or algorithmic changes used to achieve this token efficiency, they noted that the model “takes fewer reasoning steps and tool calls to accomplish multi-step workflows” and exhibits reduced “verbosity.”The official model cards released by Google reveal that both Gemini 3.6 Flash and Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite feature a 1-million-token input context window alongside a max output limit of 64,000 tokens, with both models sharing a knowledge cutoff date of March 2026.Respectable benchmark performance at low costThe technological improvements extend to concrete capabilities. Gemini 3.6 Flash scores 49% on the DeepSWE benchmark, a notable increase from the 37% achieved by version 3.5. It also pushes machine learning engineering performance higher, scoring 63.9% on MLE-Bench compared to 49.7% previously. Furthermore, Google integrates computer use as a built-in client-side tool via the Gemini API and Gemini Enterprise, reflecting an OSWorld-Verified score of 83.0%, up from 78.4%. The model also tackles knowledge work with greater proficiency, outperforming its predecessor on benchmarks like GDPval-AA v2 by moving from a score of 1349 to 1421.To ensure safety amidst these capability upgrades, Google deploys enhanced Frontier Safety safeguards. These protections harden the model against jailbreaks and mitigate risks in Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear domains, as well as cyber offense misuses. The engineering team trains the model to minimize refusals for beneficial uses, striking a necessary balance between strict security and practical utility.Models for low-cost coding, agentic, and cybersecurity use cases — respectivelyGoogle divided its new offerings into three distinct products tailored for different operational needs. Gemini 3.6 Flash serves as the heavy-duty workhorse of the trio. It handles complex coding, intricate knowledge work, and multimodal processing with improved precision. Enterprise customers utilize it for demanding tasks such as complex document parsing, intricate chart and data analysis, and long-form report drafting. The model executes complex code migrations using multi-agent orchestration frameworks with lower latency and higher quality than earlier iterations. Furthermore, 3.6 Flash aids in developing photographic texture extractors for 3D workflows using canvas interfaces.Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite targets environments where high throughput and absolute minimal latency are non-negotiable. Google designates it as the fastest model in the 3.5 series. As measured by Artificial Analysis, the model processes 350 output tokens per second, making it highly effective for agentic search and massive document processing workloads. Artificial Analysis notes this is about twice as fast as prior generation model Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite.Developers can configure 3.5 Flash-Lite to prioritize low-latency execution for high-volume tasks using minimal thinking levels, or engage higher thinking levels to process complex multi-step subagent workloads. Despite its lite designation, it outperforms the standard Gemini 3 Flash on several key agentic and coding evaluations, including SWE-Bench Pro, where it scores 54.2% compared to 49.6%, and OSWorld-Verified, scoring 74.0% versus 65.1%. The model extracts product features from massive datasets, generates interactive web design concepts, and scales receipt translation seamlessly.The third product, Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber, represents a highly specialized deployment. Google fine-tuned this model specifically to find and fix cybersecurity vulnerabilities. It integrates directly with Google’s CodeMender agent. In practice, multiple 3.5 Flash Cyber agents work concurrently to produce a single, comprehensive vulnerability report, achieving competitive performance at the frontier on the CyberGym benchmark. Google did not specify an exact numerical cost for 3.5 Flash Cyber, stating only that it is fine-tuned “at a lower price per token than larger models.Commercial licensing onlyThe licensing framework for the new Gemini models carries profound implications for developers and enterprise users. Google deploys Gemini 3.6 Flash and 3.5 Flash-Lite under a commercial, proprietary API model. Unlike open-source software governed by licenses such as the MIT License or the GNU General Public License, developers do not gain access to the underlying model weights, training data, or source code.An MIT or GPL license grants users the freedom to download the codebase, modify the internal architecture, self-host the deployment, and distribute the software infrastructure independently. In contrast, Google’s API approach means developers essentially rent access to the intelligence on a strict metered basis. Every prompt and generated response travels through Google’s managed servers, incurring a cost based on the strict pricing structure of $1.50 per million input tokens for 3.6 Flash. This commercial tethering restricts deployment flexibility. Enterprises cannot air-gap the models entirely on their own local secure hardware without establishing specialized, high-tier enterprise agreements with Google Cloud. Developers remain bound by Google’s acceptable use policies, arbitrary rate limits, and network requirements, creating a permanent dependency on Google’s infrastructure uptime and terms of service.The licensing for Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber proves even more restrictive. Acknowledging the dual-use nature of cybersecurity AI—which attackers can weaponize just as easily as defenders can use it to patch systems—Google is for now making the model only available behind a limited-access pilot program, similar to the trend kicked off by Anthropic’s Mythos model with its Project Glasswing program, and continued by OpenAI with its staggered rollout for GPT-5.6. In this case, Google is making 3.5 Flash Cyber exclusively available to governments and trusted partners. This strict gatekeeping prevents open access, prioritizing systemic security over widespread developer innovation.Looking aheadGoogle DeepMind continues to iterate rapidly, but the gap in its product line remains apparent. While the Flash series excels in speed and economy, the industry eagerly awaits the deployment of Gemini 3.5 Pro to gauge Google’s absolute frontier capabilities.Simultaneously, the company confirms that pre-training for Gemini 4 has already commenced. Until the next major flagship release materializes, developers must optimize their systems using the highly efficient, yet purposefully constrained, Flash architecture.

BTC has rebounded 15% from the July lows, but some analysts cautioned that the next move hinges on clearing a level where many recent buyers may look to sell.

For some scam victims, the financial damage does not end with the money lost — tax consequences can create an additional burden on funds they never recovered.That is the reality facing a growing number of fraud victims who discover, after reporting the crime, that the tax code denies them relief. A permanent change to federal law now bars most scam victims from deducting even a single dollar of their losses.Consumers reported a record $15.9 billion in fraud losses in 2025, a 27% jump from $12.5 billion the year before, according to Federal Trade Commission associate director Lois Greisman’s March 2026 testimony.Since 2020, reported losses have surged by nearly 430%, and the FTC has also flagged a sharp rise in the number of consumers reporting six-figure losses, according to Greisman’s March 25 testimony.How a 2017 tax-law change stripped protections from scam victimsBefore 2018, taxpayers who suffered theft losses could claim an itemized deduction for unreimbursed amounts, subject to a 10% adjusted gross income floor, Congress.gov stated. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 eliminated that option by restricting personal casualty and theft loss deductions to federally declared disasters.That restriction was originally set to expire after the 2025 tax year, thereby restoring the deduction for personal theft losses starting in 2026. Related: Vanguard drops chilling scam warning for every investorThe One Big Beautiful Bill Act instead made the limitation permanent, expanding the exemption only to include state-declared disasters, not theft or fraud.Matthew Roberts, a tax attorney and partner at Meadows Collier in Dallas, told CNBC the current treatment is “very punitive.”When a victim sends $50,000 to a scammer posing as a federal agent, the loss is not deductible, and if the funds came from a tax-deferred retirement account, the full withdrawal is still taxed as ordinary income. The tax code treats different types of scam losses differentlyThe law draws a sharp line based on the victim’s motivation when they handed over the money, and that distinction frustrates tax professionals.Victims of investment-related fraud, such as fake cryptocurrency platforms or Ponzi-style schemes, may still qualify for a theft loss deduction under current law, the IRS showed. The IRS affirmed that interpretation in Chief Counsel Advice 202511015, a memorandum issued in March 2025, because those transactions involved a profit motive.More Personal Finance:Bank of America offers a critical debt elimination planFidelity challenges long-standing retirement savings ruleGallup data expose record financial anxiety in the U.S.People who lose money to impersonator scams, romance fraud, or fake kidnapping schemes are shut out because their losses are classified as nondeductible personal casualties.”That’s another really frustrating part of this whole scenario,” said Clark Flynt-Barr, AARP’s government affairs director for financial security. “Victims have to be victims of the right type of scam,” CNBC reported.Retirement-account withdrawals compound the damage for older victimsThe fallout worsens when scammers persuade a victim to tap a tax-deferred retirement account, such as a traditional 401(k) or individual retirement account. The full withdrawal is taxed as ordinary income regardless of where the money ended up, and the victim receives no offset for the loss.If the account holder is younger than 59 and a half, the IRS imposes an additional 10% early withdrawal penalty on top of the income tax, CNBC confirmed.Older adults bear a disproportionate share of this risk because they hold the largest retirement balances and face the most aggressive targeting. Adults 60 and older reported more than $7.7 billion in losses in 2025, a 59% jump from the prior year, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crime Complaint Center 2025 Elder Fraud Report.”Many taxpayers who are retired may not have taxable income in future years after the theft occurs, particularly where they lost their retirement funds,” Roberts noted in the CNBC report.

IRS rules allow tax deductions for some investment scam losses, while victims of romance and impersonator scams receive no tax relief.fizkes/Getty Images

Bipartisan bill clears House committee with unanimous supportThe Tax Relief for Fraud Victims Act, H.R. 9500, was introduced by Representatives Max Miller, a Republican from Ohio, and Tom Suozzi, a Democrat from New York.Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) said at the committee’s July 1, 2026, markup that the bill let victims deduct scam-related losses and, in some cases, file amended returns years after discovery.”Today, Americans face countless scams, and many victims may not find out they have become the target of one until years later,” Smith said. “Unfortunately, current tax rules require victims to pay tax on their scam-related losses. This bill helps make taxpayers whole again by allowing them to deduct the losses incurred from scams.”The House Ways and Means Committee approved the measure on July 1 with a unanimous vote of 39 to 0, but it remains uncertain when the full House will take it up.”It reinstates the deduction to provide relief to victims of fraud so they can deduct the amount stolen from them, thereby mitigating the majority of the tax consequences,” Flynt-Barr confirmed.Steps scam victims can take before the next filing seasonTax professionals and the IRS recommend that victims take specific steps now, regardless of whether the pending legislation becomes law.Fraud victims can strengthen their position by documenting every dollar lost and keeping all communications with the scammer, Roberts said. Filing a report with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center and with local police creates the official record the IRS demands, the agency’s scam-victim guidance confirms.Anyone who lost money to fraud in 2025 or earlier and has not yet filed or amended the relevant return can benefit from seeking professional tax advice, Roberts recommended. The evidence a victim assembles today could determine whether a deduction is available if H.R. 9500 or a similar measure becomes law.Related: First Thing a Scammer Asks For? Silence. Not Money.

The recent chip sell-off presented a buying opportunity, and open-source AI models should drive more memory demand, analysts say

Transcript:Caroline WoodsEveryone talks about AI, ETFs and the S&P 500, but quietly fixed income ETFs are having one of their best years ever. Danielle Rutsky is ETF capital market specialist at Northern Trust and joins us now to explain what’s driving the shift and where investors may want to pay attention. Danielle, great to have you at the desk.Danielle RutskyThank you so much for having me.Caroline WoodsSo I was taking a look. ETF flows have surpassed $1 trillion this year. Almost a third. We’ve gone into bond ETFs. What is driving that.Danielle RutskyYeah. So looking at the whole picture it’s amazing that over that trillion dollars has gone into ETFs overall. That’s the first time that’s happened in the first half of the year. And so fixed incomes specifically have taken in 29% of all ETF flows. But they’re only 16% of the AUM still. So they’re punching above their weight. And what we’re seeing investors doing is really balancing risk taking with their desire for income.Danielle RutskyAnd that theme really drives across other ETF segments that are really popular right now as well, such as factor ETFs. In fact, we had $800 billion flow into them in the first half of the year. And what’s interesting is that trend of searching for yield really translates into the fact that the second most popular factor was high dividend yield strategies.Danielle RutskyAnd within, ETFs, there’s some consistent themes across risk management where defined outcome ETFs had $14 billion inflows. Income strategy saw a $60 million come in in the first half of the year. So we’re really excited that the Northern Trust distributing latter ETFs, fulfilled both those investor needs and wanting to.Caroline WoodsOkay. So break it down and tell us what it actually tells you about today’s investor. Are investors looking for safety or are they just simply looking for income.Danielle RutskyYeah. So we see investors looking for, goal driven solutions. And that’s why for our ETFs we’re really focused on, protecting investors income and having them keep more of what they earn. Whether that’s inflation protection or whether that’s being federally tax exempt or low fee ETF. So our municipal bond suite of ETFs and A, B, C and D, for example, have an expense ratio of 18 basis points.Danielle RutskyAnd our Tips ladder ETFs type A, B, C and D have an expense ratio of ten basis points. So investors can really focus on keeping more of their income.Caroline WoodsOkay. So let’s break it down even further than if someone says I need more income in my portfolio. Where should they even begin?Danielle RutskySo municipal bonds, municipal bonds in general are really great. It can be a complicated market as there are 60,000 issuers. And to put that in perspective, there’s $4 trillion in assets in the municipal bond space, which is the same as for corporates, but with ten times the number of issuers. But investors want to sort through that market as municipal bonds are federally tax exempt.Danielle RutskyYear to date tax equivalent yields, they’re beating treasuries and they’re beating the U.S. aggregate space. And Muni themselves have yields that are 90 basis points over their ten year averages. And finally, default rates and rating changes are far less likely and munis than similarly rated corporates. A study actually showed that unis had a default rate of 0.0 9%, compared to corporates of over 2%.Danielle RutskySo you’re seeing investors looking for income through through that avenue as well as the Treasury. Inflation protected securities, which protect investors when inflation comes in above where market would expect inflation to come in.Caroline WoodsOkay we’ll get to tips. But sticking with Moody’s for just a second. I know that they’re known for tax advantages. You’ve mentioned that. Are those really meant for just retirees or should younger high income investors also be paying attention to munis?Danielle RutskyYeah. So there’s a lot of versatile use cases for, federal tax exempt income on a cash flow management basis. So we see our ETFs being used for financial goal planning, whether that’s college tuition saving, retirement, philanthropy, but also lifestyle planning such as travel or home improvement. Any time that you would want consistent cash flows. Our our a lot of ETFs take that tax exempt income and put it in a way where in practice investors are getting monthly interest income and also annual, principal return to them so they can manage their spending needs with their income.Caroline WoodsOkay. And then you mentioned tips inflation still, I guess technically dominates the headlines, but it’s obviously not as strong as it once was. There still are concerns about sticky inflation, especially given what’s going on with oil prices. Why should investors be thinking about tips today?Danielle RutskyYeah. So breaking down what tips are as their treasuries where their principal is adjusted. And an increase is if there’s inflation and it decreases if there is deflation. But when you look at it, compared to its origin security nominal treasuries, nominal treasuries yield comes from the same, real rate that is involved in Tips, which is fixed.Danielle RutskyAnd then our additional yield comes from that breakeven rate or the market expectation of inflation, which is also a fixed rate. Whereas in Tip you’re getting this floating or variable adjustment back to principal. So you’re actually using it as a tool to protect yourself from surprise events, as we’ve seen with the war in Iran or a global pandemic, if there’s periods of short term inflation, you wouldn’t be protected in a nominal treasury, whereas you would be from tipped floating, principal adjustment.Caroline WoodsWhat sort of returns can investors expect to see from munis and tips?Danielle RutskyYeah. So, as I was saying, you know, 2025 was a tumultuous year for municipal bonds. But 2026, we’re seeing credit be resilient due to high reserve levels, and tax revenues. And so that’s actually been driving demand has had over $50 billion which is meeting record supply. So northern trust stability continuing in the municipal bond fees, and in Treasury inflation protected securities or tipped as I was saying, you know, there’s more, you know, shocks that could happen that you would want to be protected from, even in cases when Northern Trust believes that the market is pricing inflation properly.Danielle RutskyAnd throughout history, the market has believed that the fed will get inflation back to its 2% target. And that means that the fed has incredible credibility, but also that in terms of short period inflation, you’re not getting that protection in the breakeven rate because the breakeven rate is going to stay around 2%. So that’s really where you need to utilize tips for that protection okay.Caroline WoodsSo we’ve talked about what investors might own. But just as important is how they should own it. And you’ve been talking about bonds latter. So for those people who are listening in and saying what is that? Explain it to us. Yeah.Danielle RutskySo Northern Trust recently launched our Distributing Bond Ladder ETF. As I was saying, municipal bond ladders and A through D and tip ladders, tip A through tip D and the way that these portfolios work is it takes a traditional bond ladder, which invests in a portfolio of bonds with staggered maturities and has them organized by calendar year or rungs, with bonds maturing within each of those calendar years, and returns that monthly interest income back to investors.Danielle RutskyBut where our bond ladders differ from a perpetual bond ladder is instead of reinvesting when the bonds mature, we distribute that principal back to investors. So that way interest rate risk is minimized and the investors have duration control as well.Caroline WoodsSo why would someone buy through a bond ladder versus just buying a traditional bond ETF?Danielle RutskyThat’s a great question. So our, should be glad our ETFs take all of the benefits of holding a bond to maturity. As I was saying, mitigating interest rate risk. But the convenience of an ETF a single ticker. So that means that you’re not, sourcing through hundreds of bonds and dealing with all of those line items in your reporting.Danielle RutskyWe handle all those operational details. You just have to worry about one single ticker. And it really streamlines operations for advisors and saves them time to have important conversations with their clients.Caroline WoodsWhat’s the biggest trade off, though, that investors should consider before buying one of these?Danielle RutskyYeah. So they really just need to make sure that this is the right, tool for their investment profile, that they’re looking to have goals driven investing or capital management or budgeting tools. Because that’s really where these ETFs come into play. As for example, the most general sense, they make sure an investor’s cash flow needs are matched with their income.Danielle RutskySo for retirement, retiree, for example, looking to wait until they have full Social Security benefits to retire at 65, they might invest in our five year ladder to fill in that gap until they get full Social Security benefits. And then at 70, they can continue to use these ETFs to receive cash flow and maintain their lifestyle.Caroline WoodsOkay, so this brings me back to the question of who is best suited for these those people closer to retirement.Danielle RutskyRetirees are a great example of utilizing these ETFs to set it and forget it for their retirement needs. But we’ve seen investors of all ages utilize these ETFs, as I was saying, for home improvement, if they know that every year, they’re going to want to have a certain outlay of money to dedicate towards renovations or, college tuition for people with younger children who want to save up, for, for any type of school planning or, you know, even private school, payment plans.Danielle RutskySo it really, you know, it depends on your, financial portfolio and where this fits into that sleeve for, you know, either a inflation protected sleeve or a federally tax exempt sleeve or a time determined size.Caroline WoodsOkay. All right. I think this is a great time to pivot to our rapid fire game of this or that. It’s very quick questions. Quick answers. Are you ready to play?Danielle RutskyYeah.Caroline WoodsHere we go. Active bonds or passive bonds.Danielle RutskyFor the spaces that we’re talking about, active portfolio management. You know, we have 30 years of experience in these spaces, that, that investors get access to.Caroline WoodsOkay. Munis or treasuries.Danielle RutskyA blend of both.Caroline WoodsTypes are investment grade corporates. I would say tips monthly income or total return.Danielle RutskyTotal return.Caroline WoodsLadder or barbell.Danielle RutskyLadder.Caroline WoodsLonger duration or shorter duration. Today.Danielle RutskyToday. Shorter duration.Caroline WoodsMost misunderstood thing about bond investing today.Danielle RutskyThat it’s important to know if you are, open to interest rate risk if you’re not holding the bond to maturity.Caroline WoodsETF trend, that’s still underappreciated.Danielle RutskyRisk management tools, cash flow management tools.Caroline WoodsMost overlooked retirement mistake.Danielle RutskyTaking Social Security benefits. You know, before you’re outside of day.Caroline WoodsOne overlooked ETF category. Investors should be watching.Danielle RutskyBudgeting tools and cash flow management tools.Caroline WoodsLock in today’s yield or wait for rates to fall.Danielle RutskyLock in today’s yield.Caroline WoodsComplete this sentence. The biggest opportunity in ETFs over the next five years is fixed income.Danielle RutskyThe market needs to right size itself. The fixed income market outside of ETF is $10 trillion larger than the equity market, but it’s much smaller in the ETF industry. So we will see investment use cases grow as the market, continues to grow.Caroline WoodsOkay. And one thing that I should have asked that I’m thinking of, that I just want to get in is we didn’t really talk about the fed. Obviously there’s expectations that the fed is not necessarily going to cut this year. There have been talks about rate hikes. How much does that matter as people are thinking about munis and tips and bond flattering in general.Danielle RutskyYeah. So we started this quarter thinking that the the fed was going to, cut interest rates by seven basis points. And now we’re pricing in 40 basis points of rate hikes. So in this macro environment of higher, higher interest rates and uncertain inflation, that’s where we see our ladders. Succeeding as again, David turn principal to investors every year, which means they’re holding bonds to maturity.Danielle RutskySo interest rate risk is minimized. And that would be a great reason to utilize the Treasury Inflation Protected Security ETF that we have, to protect from inflation being higher than where the market is pricing it around the Fed’s 2% target.Caroline WoodsOkay. All right. We’ll leave it there. Danielle, really appreciate you sharing some light on this space. That’s Danielle Rutsky, ETF capital market specialist at Northern Trust. If you enjoyed this ETF spotlight, check out our full interview with Matt Kaufman. 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