BUSINESS

The IndyCar-NASCAR Doubleheader Weekend at Phoenix Raceway gave a boost of interest to both Series. Forbes Sports Money takes a “deep dive” look into how it happened.

Your portfolio probably isn’t ready for the Iran conflict’s escalation.

Shares of Petco Health & Wellness jumped after hours on Wednesday after the pet-supplies retailer said it expects sales to rebound this year, as efforts to overhaul its store selections and lean more into services like dog grooming and training are starting to pay off.

Things might look a little different to regular Kohl’s shoppers next time they step into the store. During the company’s Q4 2026 earnings call on March 10, Kohl’s CEO Michael Bender said customers could expect to see big changes to the retailer’s inventory over the next year.“A key element of Kohl’s value proposition is the power of our high-quality proprietary brands,” Bender said. “This year, we are committed to increasing our investment into proprietary brands inventory, marketing, and experience.”Kohl’s has typically carried a wide range of brands on its floor, ranging from global entities like Levi’s and Nike to proprietary labels such as LC Lauren Conrad and Tek Gear.While that strategy may have worked in the past, it’s proved less effective in recent years as department stores have started to falter.A recent Placer.ai report found that, as a whole, department stores were struggling to maintain traffic. “The pressure was most visible among mid-market chains without a sharply defined value or experiential proposition,” the report said. Kohl’s, with its lack of clear identity, certainly felt this pressure, with visits dropping by 5% in Q4 year over year.Kohl’s doubles down on private-label brandsWhile Kohl’s has no plans to drop global brands altogether — Kohl’s Chief Financial Office Jill Timm called out the successful partnerships with brands like Levi’s and companies like Sephora — executives made it clear the company’s primary focus going forward would be its private labels and proprietary brands.“We’re probably the most mature in that curve in terms of how we went after our proprietary brand portfolio,” Timm told investors, discussing opportunities for growth. “I think that’s kind of the litmus test for us and really what we’re gonna continue to chase after.”The decision to shift focus isn’t a new one. Earlier this month, Kohl’s launched its “By Kohl’s” campaign. The campaign aims to “bring more visibility and definition to our proprietary brand portfolio and reinforce how these brands are thoughtfully designed for our customers’ lives,” the company said in a statement. In practice, this means stores are showcasing brands more prominently on the sales floor with elevated signage, mannequins, and prime positioning in gifting stations. It also means making them easier to find on e-commerce platforms through dedicated landing pages and spotlighted sections.Kohl’s executives called out a number of private-label and proprietary brands they’re hoping to emphasize over the coming year, including:LC Lauren ConradTek GearSonomaFLXSea +SkyJumping BeansApt. 9

Kohl’s announced plans to focus on private labels and proprietary brands in 2026, in an effort to develop a clearer brand identity.Shutterstock

Kohl’s is committed to keeping prices lowBudget-conscious shoppers don’t need to worry — Kohl’s revamped strategy doesn’t include major price bumps.In fact, Bender said the company is working to lower prices on many key items in 2026.“The majority of our customers are low to middle income,” he told investors. “These consumers have been consistently under pressure and are being thoughtful with how they are spending their discretionary income… Kohl’s has an opportunity to deliver more consistent, competitive value to all of our customers.”In order to better serve its primary demographic, Kohl’s has plans to offer a variety of basic and gift items at $10 or less. They’re also working to revamp their rewards program and discount system, so that loyal shoppers are getting the most bang for their buck.Kohl’s won’t ditch major partnershipsPrivate labels and proprietary brands aren’t Kohl’s only focus areas for the upcoming year. Both Bender and Timm noted that the company’s partnership with Sephora has been a major factor in the chain’s growth.“On the Sephora question, you know, we feel very good about the partnership there,” Bender told investors, noting that net sales for Sephora at Kohl’s grew by 2% in 2025.In order to continue that momentum, the company says it plans to “strategically curate an exciting assortment” of new brands to carry in the sections as it “recognizes that newness is vital in the beauty industry.”Customers can expect to see products from Tarte and Charlotte Tilbury hit Sephora at Kohl’s shelves by the end of 2026, joining brands like MAC (which was rolled out to 850 stores near the close of 2025), YSL, Valentino, and OUI.Related: Kohl’s struggles to remain relevant as discount retailers gain foothold

Investors receive a few more updates related to the oil market Wednesday evening

Henry Schuck built DiscoverOrg, now ZoomInfo, to $30 million in revenue without external funding.

Tax refunds are averaging about $775 higher this filing season for Americans who claim the new deductions under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). That sounds like a genuine windfall. IRS CEO Frank Bisignano told the House Ways and Means Committee on March 5 that more than four in 10 of the roughly 55 million returns filed so far include at least one of the new tax breaks, Newsweek reported, and refunds for those filers are materially larger.The average refund across all filers has hit $3,742 as of late February, up more than 10% from the same point last year, according to IRS filing-season data.The White House has called 2026 the largest tax refund season on record, but there’s a catch that’s easy to miss. That extra money in your refund is not a bonus from the government; it’s your own cash being returned.The $775 boost is real, but it’s not new moneyWhen President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) into law on July 4, 2025, the legislation created several new above-the-line deductions, effective retroactive to January 1, 2025.The Tax Foundation estimates the law reduced individual income taxes for 2025 by roughly $129 billion.However, the IRS revealed in August 2025 that it would not update employer withholding tables for tax year 2025. That decision meant employers kept withholding federal income tax at the old, higher rates for the entire year, even though workers now owed less under the new law.The result is a classic overpayment scenario. Your employer took out more than you actually owed, and now the IRS is returning the difference as a refund. Financial planner Drew Powers of Powers Financial Group called it a “classic case of overpayment,” telling Newsweek that taxpayers who proactively adjusted their withholdings after the law passed will see a smaller refund bump.The new OBBBA deductions are driving bigger refundsBisignano told lawmakers that four deductions, all reported on the new Schedule 1-A form, account for most of the increase in the refund, Deloitte’s tax@hand noted. About 43% of returns filed so far include at least one of these breaks, according to CNBC.Key OBBBA deductions for 2025 returns include the following.Overtime pay deduction: Workers can deduct the premium portion of overtime compensation, up to $12,500 for single filers ($25,000 for joint filers). This has been the most commonly claimed new deduction so far.Senior bonus deduction: Taxpayers age 65 and older can claim an additional $6,000 deduction ($12,000 for married couples where both qualify). This break is producing the largest individual refund increases, Bisignano said. It phases out at $75,000 MAGI for single filers and $150,000 for joint filers.Tip deduction: Workers can deduct up to $25,000 in qualified tip income. The Tax Policy Center estimates 5 to 10 million returns will claim this break.Auto loan interest deduction: Buyers of American-made vehicles can deduct up to $10,000 in qualified loan interest, with a phase-out beginning at $100,000 MAGI ($200,000 for joint filers).The IRS reports that households with adjusted gross incomes below $100,000 are the primary beneficiaries of these new breaks. If current trends continue, Bisignano said, the average refund boost for eligible filers could reach $1,000 by the end of tax season.A bigger tax refund now could mean a smaller paycheck laterHere’s where most coverage of the $775 boost falls short. A larger refund does not mean you paid less in taxes overall. It means you gave the federal government an interest-free loan throughout 2025, and now you’re getting the overpayment back.Kevin Thompson, CEO of 9i Capital Group, told Newsweek that the increase is partly driven by the higher standard deduction and a partially refundable child tax credit now set at $2,200 per qualifying child, with $1,700 refundable. Families with children will see the most pronounced gains because credits reduce taxes dollar-for-dollar.But the real catch is what happens next. Beginning in 2026, the IRS will adjust withholding tables to reflect the OBBBA’s tax cuts. That means less money withheld from each paycheck going forward. If you do nothing and assume next year’s refund will be equally large, you could be in for a surprise.What IRS tax changes mean in practical termsConsider a worker who received a $775 higher refund this season. Spread across 26 biweekly pay periods, that’s roughly $30 over-withheld per paycheck. Once the withholding tables update, that $30 will show up in your paycheck instead of your refund. Your take-home pay goes up slightly, but your refund next year shrinks. If you’ve already built a habit of relying on a big refund for annual expenses such as insurance premiums, property taxes, or debt payments, the shift could leave you short.Not every tax filer will see a bigger refundThe $775 average applies only to filers who claim at least one of the new OBBBA deductions. The roughly 57% of returns filed so far that do not include a Schedule 1-A are not part of that average.Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor at the University of Tennessee at Martin, told Newsweek that filers who have not yet submitted their returns need to manage expectations. Some of the new breaks are limited to specific groups: overtime workers, tipped employees, seniors, and buyers of American-made cars.More Personal Finance:Why selling a home to your child for a dollar can backfireElon Musk says ‘universal high income’ is comingFTC, 21 states sue Uber over ‘shady’ subscription billingSalaried workers under age 65 who don’t receive tips and didn’t finance an American-made vehicle in 2025 likely won’t qualify for any of the four Schedule 1-A deductions.Any increase in their refund, if any, will come primarily from the modestly higher standard deduction ($15,750 for single filers, $31,500 for married filing jointly) and the expanded child tax credit.Lower-income households that already pay little or no federal income tax may see only modest gains. Lower-income filers could receive less than $100 in additional refund money, as News Nation Now reported, citing Principal Asset Management estimates.Inflation has already eaten into the extra tax-refund cashEven for filers who qualify, the $775 average gain may not stretch as far as it sounds. Drew Powers of Powers Financial Group made this point directly to Newsweek: While a bigger refund is welcome, most Americans will find the additional amount has already been offset by higher prices.Inflation has slowed from its 2022–2023 highs, but prices have not come down. Grocery costs, housing expenses, and insurance premiums remain elevated compared to three years ago. A $775 refund increase translates to about $64 per month in purchasing power, meaningful but unlikely to reshape a household budget.Thompson noted that retirees may be the exception. Some seniors are saving between $700 and $2,100 in taxes due to the new $6,000 senior deduction, a break that can provide more noticeable relief on a fixed income.Three steps every filer should take before next tax seasonThe IRS has made it clear that withholding tables are being updated for 2026. That changes the calculus for anyone who enjoyed a larger refund this year. Take these three steps to stay ahead.Step 1: Update your W-4 nowThe IRS encourages all taxpayers to review their withholding after receiving a refund. Use the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator to check whether your current withholding is still appropriate under the new rates. If you over-withheld significantly in 2025, reducing your withholding will put more money in your pocket each pay period rather than waiting for a lump sum next spring.Step 2: Don’t spend the refund as if it’s a bonusBecause this refund is a return of overpaid taxes, not new income, treat it accordingly. Financial advisors consistently recommend directing unexpected refund increases toward high-interest debt, emergency savings, or retirement contributions. If you normally receive about $3,000 and this year you got $3,775, consider setting aside that $775 difference rather than inflating your spending.Step 3: Check whether you’re actually claiming all eligible deductionsIf you worked overtime, received tips, turned 65, or financed an American-made car in 2025, and your return does not include a Schedule 1-A, you may be leaving money on the table. The new deductions are above-the-line, meaning you can claim them in addition to the standard deduction. The IRS has published FAQs on each provision, including the overtime deduction (FS-2026-01). If you’ve already filed without claiming an eligible deduction, you can file an amended return using Form 1040-X.The broader risk most filers are overlookingThe 2026 refund season is unique because it combines the normal refund cycle with a one-time retroactive adjustment from a law that passed mid-year. That won’t repeat. Once withholding tables catch up to the new tax rates, the gap between what’s withheld and what’s owed narrows. Average refunds should settle closer to historical norms.For filers who don’t update their W-4, the risk runs in both directions. Some may under-withhold and face a balance due next April. Others may over-withhold again if they choose not to update their paperwork, effectively giving the government another interest-free loan.A $775 increase in refunds is real and welcome. But it’s a one-time correction, not a recurring benefit. The filers who come out ahead are the ones who understand what the money actually represents and plan accordingly.Related: Turning Your Refund into Financial Progress

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 dealYour warm-weather wardrobe isn’t complete without a pair of go-to sandals. The ultimate everyday sandal is equal parts comfortable and stylish, but it should also deliver on versatility, matching both casual and classy looks alike. For us, our dream pair is one you can easily slip on when heading out the door, whether you’re running errands in a worn-out tee and denim shorts or dressed nicely for brunch in a flowy summer dress.One option that fits the bill is the Ugg Goldenstar Glide Platform Sandal, and right now, the fashionable footwear is on sale at Nordstrom Rack. Normally, you’d have to pay $120 to add these to your closet, but with 37% off, you can score them for just $75. These savings cover all four colors, including Smoke Plume, Chestnut (pictured below), Sand, and Bay Fog. This Ugg sandal deal is even more impressive when you realize the same shoes are still retailing for nearly full price elsewhere around the web, like at Zappos.Ugg Goldenstar Glide Platform Sandal, $75 (was $120) at Nordstrom Rack

Courtesy of Nordstrom Rack

Why do shoppers love it?Ugg has become a shoe rack staple over the years for quality footwear that takes cute and cozy to the next level, and these chic platform sandals live up to this top-notch reputation. They feature a classic slingback design that’s updated for the modern day with a one-inch platform sole and an adjustable strap for a more customizable wear. Not only can you tighten the slingback strap for a more secure fit when walking long distances, but you can also push it forward to convert these slingback sandals into easy-to-wear slides. If you have any upcoming travel plans, the 2-in-1 wear would be a game changer for navigating through airport security.”The most comfortable slide ever,” one shopper called the travel-friendly shoes. Featuring a compression-resistant cushioned footbed with built-in arch support, these can serve as walk-all-day sandals. The shoes use a soft recycled lining upgraded with a peppermint anti-odor treatment that keeps your feet feeling fresh. The same reviewer called the Uggs “quality-made and super comfy” and reported, “These sandals have both breathing room and cushion and keep my feet comfy all day.”Related: REI is selling the Original Universal Tevas for only $42, and they’re one of my favorite shoesThese everyday sandals are so impressive that, as of writing, every reviewer has backed their superior quality with a perfect five-star rating. “Straight out of the box, I made it through my 10-hour workday on my feet the entire time,” one shopper wrote, describing them as a “new fave.” They continued to rave, “I can’t recall ever having a shoe this comfortable, and I get tons of compliments!”Details to know Sizes available: These sandals come in women’s shoe sizes 5 to 12.Color options: All four colors are on sale for $75.Materials: A leather upper, a recycled polyester lining, and a synthetic sole.Plenty of cushion and support make these trendy sandals a stellar choice for everyday wear this spring and summer. Since everyone has different preferences, we’ve rounded up additional noteworthy sandal discounts at Nordstrom Rack, including deals on top Ugg shoe styles for spring. If you’d like to add the Ugg Goldenstar Glide Platform Sandal to your shoe collection for just $75 at Nordstrom Rack, don’t wait to secure the savings, as deals this good tend to sell out fast.Shop more dealsUgg Delray Ankle Strap Sandal, $80 (was $110) at Nordstrom RackDr. Scholl’s Once Twice Platform Sandal, $50 (was $95) at Nordstrom RackUgg Solivan Slingback Sandal, $75 (was $90) at Nordstrom RackUgg Goldenglow Slingback Sandal, $65 (was $100) at Nordstrom Rack

Courtesy of Nordstrom Rack

Sorel Ona Ave Ankle Strap Sandal, $50 (was $100) at Nordstrom Rack

Courtesy of Nordsr

Ugg Goldenglow Platform Slide Sandal, $60 (was $90) at Nordstrom Rack

Courtesy of Nordstrom Rack

Vionic Harmony RX Sandal, $39 (was $125) at Nordstrom Rack

Courtesy of Nordstrom Rack

Teva Hurricane XLT 2 Sandal, $40 (was $80) at Nordstrom Rack

Courtesy of Nordstrom Rack

Multi-agent systems, designed to handle long-horizon tasks like software engineering or cybersecurity triaging, can generate up to 15 times the token volume of standard chats — threatening their cost-effectiveness in handling enterprise tasks. But today, Nvidia sought to help solve this problem with the release of Nemotron 3 Super, a 120-billion-parameter hybrid model, with weights posted on Hugging Face.By merging disparate architectural philosophies—state-space models, transformers, and a novel “Latent” mixture-of-experts design—Nvidia is attempting to provide the specialized depth required for agentic workflows without the bloat typical of dense reasoning models, and all available for commercial usage under mostly open weights.Triple hybrid architecture At the core of Nemotron 3 Super is a sophisticated architectural triad that balances memory efficiency with precision reasoning. The model utilizes a Hybrid Mamba-Transformer backbone, which interleaves Mamba-2 layers with strategic Transformer attention layers.To understand the implications for enterprise production, consider the “needle in a haystack” problem. Mamba-2 layers act like a “fast-travel” highway system, handling the vast majority of sequence processing with linear-time complexity. This allows the model to maintain a massive 1-million-token context window without the memory footprint of the KV cache exploding. However, pure state-space models often struggle with associative recall. To fix this, Nvidia strategically inserts Transformer attention layers as “global anchors,” ensuring the model can precisely retrieve specific facts buried deep within a codebase or a stack of financial reports.Beyond the backbone, the model introduces Latent Mixture-of-Experts (LatentMoE). Traditional Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) designs route tokens to experts in their full hidden dimension, which creates a computational bottleneck as models scale. LatentMoE solves this by projecting tokens into a compressed space before routing them to specialists. This “expert compression” allows the model to consult four times as many specialists for the exact same computational cost. This granularity is vital for agents that must switch between Python syntax, SQL logic, and conversational reasoning within a single turn.Further accelerating the model is Multi-Token Prediction (MTP). While standard models predict a single next token, MTP predicts several future tokens simultaneously. This serves as a “built-in draft model,” enabling native speculative decoding that can deliver up to 3x wall-clock speedups for structured generation tasks like code or tool calls.The Blackwell advantageFor enterprises, the most significant technical leap in Nemotron 3 Super is its optimization for the Nvidia Blackwell GPU platform. By pre-training natively in NVFP4 (4-bit floating point), Nvidia has achieved a breakthrough in production efficiency. On Blackwell, the model delivers 4x faster inference than 8-bit models running on the previous Hopper architecture, with no loss in accuracy.In practical performance, Nemotron 3 Super is a specialized tool for agentic reasoning. It currently holds the No. 1 position on the DeepResearch Bench, a benchmark measuring an AI’s ability to conduct thorough, multi-step research across large document sets. BenchmarkNemotron 3 SuperQwen3.5-122B-A10BGPT-OSS-120BGeneral KnowledgeMMLU-Pro83.7386.7081.00ReasoningAIME25 (no tools)90.2190.3692.50HMMT Feb25 (no tools)93.6791.4090.00HMMT Feb25 (with tools)94.7389.55—GPQA (no tools)79.2386.6080.10GPQA (with tools)82.70—80.09LiveCodeBench (v5 2024-07↔2024-12)81.1978.9388.00SciCode (subtask)42.0542.0039.00HLE (no tools)18.2625.3014.90HLE (with tools)22.82—19.0AgenticTerminal Bench (hard subset)25.7826.8024.00Terminal Bench Core 2.031.0037.5018.70SWE-Bench (OpenHands)60.4766.4041.9SWE-Bench (OpenCode)59.2067.40—SWE-Bench (Codex)53.7361.20—SWE-Bench Multilingual (OpenHands)45.78—30.80TauBench V2Airline56.2566.049.2Retail62.8362.667.80Telecom64.3695.0066.00Average61.1574.5361.0BrowseComp with Search31.28—33.89BIRD Bench41.80—38.25Chat & Instruction FollowingIFBench (prompt)72.5673.7768.32Scale AI Multi-Challenge55.2361.5058.29Arena-Hard-V273.8875.1590.26Long ContextAA-LCR58.3166.9051.00RULER @ 256k96.3096.7452.30RULER @ 512k95.6795.9546.70RULER @ 1M91.7591.3322.30MultilingualMMLU-ProX (avg over langs)79.3685.0676.59WMT24++ (en→xx)86.6787.8488.89It also demonstrates significant throughput advantages, achieving up to 2.2x higher throughput than gpt-oss-120B and 7.5x higher than Qwen3.5-122B in high-volume settings.Custom ‘open’ license — commercial usage but with important caveats The release of Nemotron 3 Super under the Nvidia Open Model License Agreement (updated October 2025) provides a permissive framework for enterprise adoption, though it carries distinct “safeguard” clauses that differentiate it from pure open-source licenses like MIT or Apache 2.0.Key Provisions for Enterprise Users:Commercial Usability: The license explicitly states that models are “commercially usable” and grants a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free license to sell and distribute products built on the model.Ownership of Output: Nvidia makes no claim to the outputs generated by the model; the responsibility for those outputs—and the ownership of them—rests entirely with the user.Derivative Works: Enterprises are free to create and own “Derivative Models” (fine-tuned versions), provided they include the required attribution notice: “Licensed by Nvidia Corporation under the Nvidia Open Model License.”The “Red Lines”:The license includes two critical termination triggers that production teams must monitor:Safety Guardrails: The license automatically terminates if a user bypasses or circumvents the model’s “Guardrails” (technical limitations or safety hyperparameters) without implementing a “substantially similar” replacement appropriate for the use case.Litigation Trigger: If a user institutes copyright or patent litigation against Nvidia alleging that the model infringes on their IP, their license to use the model terminates immediately.This structure allows Nvidia to foster a commercial ecosystem while protecting itself from “IP trolling” and ensuring that the model isn’t stripped of its safety features for malicious use.‘The team really cooked’The release has generated significant buzz within the developer community. Chris Alexiuk, a Senior Product Research Enginner at Nvidia, heralded the launch on X under his handle @llm_wizard as a “SUPER DAY,” emphasizing the model’s speed and transparency. “Model is: FAST. Model is: SMART. Model is: THE MOST OPEN MODEL WE’VE DONE YET,” Chris posted, highlighting the release of not just weights, but 10 trillion tokens of training data and recipes.The industry adoption reflects this enthusiasm:Cloud and Hardware: The model is being deployed as an Nvidia NIM microservice, allowing it to run on-premises via the Dell AI Factory or HPE, as well as across Google Cloud, Oracle, and shortly, AWS and Azure.Production Agents: Companies like CodeRabbit (software development) and Greptile are integrating the model to handle large-scale codebase analysis, while industrial leaders like Siemens and Palantir are deploying it to automate complex workflows in manufacturing and cybersecurity.As Kari Briski, Nvidia VP of AI Software, noted: “As companies move beyond chatbots and into multi-agent applications, they encounter… context explosion.” Nemotron 3 Super is Nvidia’s answer to that explosion—a model that provides the “brainpower” of a 120B parameter system with the operational efficiency of a much smaller specialist. For the enterprise, the message is clear: the “thinking tax” is finally coming down.

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