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An archipelago composed of over 7,600 islands in the western Pacific Ocean, the Philippines has gone from being largely overlooked to a travel destination that has skyrocketed in popularity among tourists from Western countries in the last five years.The number of international travelers to the Philippines jumped from 5.45 million in 2023 to 6.48 million in 2025 while, in the first half of 2026, that number was already recorded at 3.2 million.”One of Southeast Asia’s most important commercial and cultural centers”: Delta on new LAX-Manila flightAmid the increasing demand, both local and international airlines have been looking to launch new routes to both the capital of Manila and other destinations across the country. In March 2027, Delta Air Lines will launch a new route between Los Angeles International (LAX) and Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL) in Manila that will be the only direct service between the two cities offered by a U.S. airline (local flag carrier Philippine Airlines runs what at peak times can be a twice-daily flight).The flight will run on an Airbus A350-900 with 275 passenger seats including 40 in the Delta One business class. After launching in March, the flight will go three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays before being upped to daily service on June 7.Related: Popular tourist destination adds ‘bikini ban’The large distance between the two cities means the flight will take 14 hours and 40 minutes on the way to Manila and clock in at 13 hours and 25 minutes on the way back to Los Angeles.”As the capital of the Philippines, Manila is one of Southeast Asia’s most important commercial and cultural centers,” Delta said in its release on the new route. “The city attracts business travelers, customers visiting friends and family, and visitors eager to experience its rich history, diverse cuisine and vibrant neighborhoods.”

Delta says that The Philippines is a growing market that will help it bring in new passengers.Michael Derrer Fuchs / Getty Images

Which U.S. airlines are flying to the Philippines in 2026Delta had previously tried launching service to the Philippines through fifth-freedom flights to Manila from Incheon International Airport (ICN) in Seoul and Narita International Airport (NRT) in Tokyo. Those flights were discontinued during the covid-19 pandemic while competitor United Airlines has been running this type of flight with a stopover in Tokyo to the island of Cebu that has been particularly popular with tourists looking for beach holidays.Other “big three” competitor American Airlines has a codeshare agreement with Philippine Airlines and does not fly to the country on its own.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 BahamasUnexpected country is most luxurious travel destination for 2026Low-cost airline launches easier way to get to Sri LankaDelta, meanwhile, said that the new route is key to expanding the carrier’s “growing network from LAX” and serving as a “primary international gateway” for U.S. travelers on the way to the rest of the Philippines as well as members of the diaspora traveling between the two countries.”Whether customers are traveling for business, visiting loved ones, or discovering everything the Philippines has to offer, this new service makes those journeys even easier,” Jeff Arinder, Delta’s vice president of network planning, said in a statement.Related: Another airline cancels 3 flights to U.S., offers refunds

Households nearing six-figure incomes, known for responsible budgeting and reliable bill payments, are facing a growing sense of financial uncertainty. New survey data points to a growing disconnect between income and financial confidence, with near-six-figure households reporting some of the steepest declines in perceived stability. The AARP Financial Security Trends Survey, released in June 2026, tracks how more than 6,700 adults aged 30 and older rate their finances. The top-line number moved only slightly, with 42% of respondents reporting they feel financially insecure, up from 39% in 2022.That modest national average, however, conceals a much sharper story unfolding inside middle-income and upper-income households across the country.Financial insecurity nearly doubles for near-six-figure earnersAmong households earning $75,000 to $99,000, the share of people who feel financially insecure surged from 20% to 36% between 2022 and 2026. That is a near-doubling of financial anxiety in a group that most people would describe as solidly middle class.Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate, pointed to the persistence of elevated prices as a key driver behind deteriorating financial confidence, even among households with steady incomes.Inflation, and the resulting affordability challenges, clearly rules the roost when it comes to hampering the ability to save more money. This helps to explain why people are relatively downbeat on the outlook for their personal financesEarners above $100,000 also reported rising unease, with insecurity in that group climbing from 14% to 21% over the same four-year period.Among adults earning less than $40,000, 67% reported feeling insecure, a rate that remains far higher but rose only 3 percentage points since 2022. That stability at the bottom of the income scale makes the rapid erosion of confidence among higher earners all the more striking, the survey found.”People who look financially comfortable on paper are now feeling uneasy about their finances,” Rich Johnson, vice president of financial security at the AARP Public Policy Institute, told AARP. “A big part of that is driven by concerns about how inflation is squeezing family budgets across the board, not just among lower-income people.”Healthcare expenses hit a record high in AARP’s trackingOne force behind the shift is the rising cost of medical care, which is eroding purchasing power even for households with employer-sponsored insurance.A record 49% of adults aged 30 and older said their monthly healthcare spending is higher than it was 12 months ago, AARP reported. More Personal Finance:Bank of America offers critical debt elimination planFidelity challenges long-standing retirement savings ruleGallup data expose record financial anxiety in the U.S.That figure stood at 42% when the survey launched in 2022, representing a 7-percentage-point jump in four years of national tracking, the AARP survey found.Out-of-pocket healthcare spending for someone on Medicare now exceeds $6,300 a year, compounding alongside rising food and energy prices, Johnson reported.Overall, 72% of adults aged 30 and older reported that prices are outpacing their income, a concern that persists despite national-level wage growth. Average weekly earnings for private-sector workers rose 17% from January 2022 to January 2026, while the Consumer Price Index climbed 16% over the same period. Credit card debt separates secure households from struggling onesCredit card balances represent one of the clearest dividing lines between people who feel financially secure and those who do not, the survey showed.Among respondents who reported feeling insecure, 56% carry a credit card balance from month to month, compared with 29% of those who feel secure. The balances are growing larger, too, with 34% of insecure adults who carry credit card debt owing more than $10,000 in 2026, up from 25% in 2022. Healthcare costs are fueling part of that increase, with 54% of insecure adults naming medical expenses as a contributor to their card debt in 2026. That share stood at 47% when the survey began tracking this question four years earlier, marking a notable and steady climb.”The volatile stock market and questions about job stability have made it harder for many families to feel secure, even if they have good incomes,” Johnson said.Emergency savings remain the clearest marker of financial healthWhether a household has money set aside for unexpected costs may be the single strongest predictor of financial confidence in the AARP data.Among adults who feel financially secure, 84% have some form of emergency savings, compared with just 33% of those who feel insecure.Financial shocks reinforce the divide, with 59% of insecure respondents experiencing a large surprise bill, sudden income drop, or fraud loss in the past year. Among secure respondents, 35% reported a similar shock, with vehicle expenses, housing costs, and medical bills ranking as the most common triggers.Older adults nearing retirement face steeper financial consequencesThe data carry particular weight for Americans between 50 and 64, because a financial setback at that stage leaves far less time to recover.”Families without savings are often one job layoff, major repair bill or serious illness from falling deep into debt,” Johnson warned. “That kind of financial shock can be especially debilitating for people in their 50s and early 60s, because it leaves them less able to put money away for their retirement,” he statedAARP’s chief advocacy and engagement officer, Nancy LeaMond, stated that 6 in 10 adults in that same age group worry about whether their money will last through retirement. She also noted that 42% of adults 50 and older who aren’t yet retired have less than $50,000 saved: “Considering that retirement today can last 20 or even 30 years, these numbers just don’t add up,” LeaMond said.Related: AARP reveals 56 million workers missing out on a 401(k)

Costco has a very limited selection compared to other retailers its size.That’s an intentional choice that allows the company to keep prices down. By selling, for example, one SKU of ketchup rather than various sizes and packaging options, Costco maximizes how many of that unit it sells, giving it better bargaining power with its vendors.Essentially, when a retailer negotiates with a vendor, something I did for many years working at my family’s steel scaffolding business, the more you buy, the lower the price. If I ordered steel by the truckload, it was cheaper than a partial load order.Costco uses that principle, and the fact that it only stocks about 4,000 unique products in its warehouse (about 40% of what a traditional grocery store carries) gives the chain leverage to negotiate lower prices. By keeping the product count low, the warehouse club makes every partner earn their shelf space, and sometimes, it means that a store staple, or a new favorite, loses its spot.That can be traumatic to members who see an old (or new) favorite disappear. Costco members, however, can get a little insight into what products may soon go away if they know the chain’s secret code.Costco tells members what items are being discontinued Costco offers two types of merchandise. First, it has core staples that it always offers.Your warehouse club will have milk, coffee, cereal, and other basics. The brands, sizes, and packaging may change, but you won’t go to Costco and find that it’s not stocking the basics.In addition, Costco has its rotating merchandise. Some of those items, like clothing, seasonal sports gear, holiday products, and more, only appear for a short window.If you missed the recent Esprit sweatshirt, which was a viral hit that sold out quickly, according to Today.com, it’s probably not coming back.Some of these non-staple items, however, are regulars. Maybe Costco offers a K-Cup flavor you love, has a candy or chocolate you like, or stocks a frozen meal, beer brand, or something else you truly enjoy.In some cases, those items get phased out. Maybe they don’t sell well enough, or perhaps the manufacturer and Costco can’t reach a deal to keep the item on sale.More Costco:Costco makes silent gas change members will loveBig changes could be in store for CostcoCostco faces a food safety problem members need to knowWhen that happens, Costco discontinues the item without telling members. There is, however, a way to know when your favorite items are being phased out, but you need to know what to look for.”Costco’s limited inventory and constantly rotating selection are part of what gives the warehouse its treasure-hunt appeal. So when you stumble across a product you love, take a quick look at the shelf tag. If the large white price sign has a small asterisk in the upper-right corner, you’ve spotted what’s known as Costco’s ‘star of death,'” Food & Wine reported.

Costco regularly changes its merchandise. Shutterstock

Costco members need to know the codeThe symbol can mean two different things.”The Death Star is typically added to seasonal products that return annually and to unpopular products that will be permanently retired,” according to Delish.Costco does not share whether the item is being permanently removed.“That doesn’t mean that it’s always going to be discontinued forever,” said David Schwartz, co-author of “The Joy of Costco: A Treasure Hunt from A to Z,” in an interview with Delish. “That could mean that it’s gonna be given a rest for three months, and then come back.”Costco did not return Good Housekeeping’s request for comment on the secret code.Costco is careful with its inventoryCostco constantly adjusts its inventory partially to meet member needs and partly to keep costs down. Global situations like wars and the ongoing White House tariffs can have an impact on what the warehouse club stocks.CFO Gary Millerchip commented on the company’s inventory during Costco’s third-quarter earnings call.”The supply chain is generally stable, and our merchants feel good about our inventory position heading into the summer. We have relatively low inventory exposure to shipping issues stemming from the situation in the Middle East, but we continue to monitor the situation closely,” he said.Costco plans out each item it stocks, according to RTM Nexus CEO Dominick Miserandino.”It’s simply an economics of space. The average retailer could have 10,000 to 15,000 SKUs, but Costco could have 3,500 to 4,000,” he told TheStreet. That’s a significant difference (and a Walmart or Target could have two to three times that many products). So, yes, they’re going to be most efficient and only stock the shelves with what they think will sell.”(Costco SKU counts vary by warehouse.)CEO Ron Vachris shared some insight on how supply chain impacts and sourcing impacts pricing.”One of your examples was you saw some inventory that we had during higher tariffs. Now we’re getting the lower-priced goods in. We may go down earlier in those to get into those lower-priced goods quicker. We’re down quick on eggs when that commodity started dropping,” he said during the Q3 call.Related: More Costco members are paying double for one reason

Every household budget has a repair that gets postponed.The roof leak that is still only a stain on the ceiling. The transmission noise you learn to drive around. Nothing bad happens for years, and then it does, and the bill is far bigger than it would have been if the problem had been addressed earlier.Washington runs on the same logic, except the ceiling belongs to about 71 million people.Social Security has been on a published countdown since long before most of today’s retirees ever filed a claim. The retirement trust fund is now scheduled to run short in 2032, and the automatic benefit cut that follows would hit everyone at once, regardless of age, income, or how carefully anyone planned.Lawmakers have known about the gap for decades. They have also had workable fixes in front of them for just as long, including one that almost nobody remembers, which came from a Minnesota congressman most readers have never heard of.He introduced it in 1987. New modeling released this week says it would have done most of the job.What the 1987 flat-rate COLA proposal actually didEvery January, benefits rise by a percentage tied to inflation. A retiree collecting $1,200 a month gets that percentage. So does a retiree collecting $3,500 a month, which works out to a far larger raise in dollars.Compounded across 30 years of retirement, the distance between those two checks widens on autopilot.More Social Security:Vanguard warns of Social Security traps costing retireesSocial Security may send a $0 check for one common mistakeHow much Social Security crisis will cost your retirementA bill from Representative Tim Penny (D-Minn.) flipped the math. His flat-rate cost-of-living adjustment “would pay all beneficiaries the same COLA,” according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, set at the dollar amount collected by the beneficiary at the 20th percentile.Same raise for everyone, measured in dollars instead of percentages. Bigger increase for the retiree at the bottom, slower growth for the retiree at the top.The bill was introduced in the 100th Congress and never became law, according to Congress.gov records.Penny was a six-term congressman who chaired the Democratic Budget Group and the Porkbusters Coalition, according to the budget group’s biography of him. He now co-chairs that same organization, which is how a 39-year-old bill ended up back in circulation.It surfaced again on July 21, when the budget group published fresh estimates from Karen Smith of the Urban Institute. Starting the same policy in 2027 would close half of Social Security’s 75-year shortfall, her modeling found. Set at the 30th percentile instead, it closes about two-fifths.

Lawmakers skipped a flat-rate COLA in 1987, and new estimates show the cost.Getty Images

Why the Social Security math got worse while Congress waitedThe delay is the whole story here, and it is measurable. Score the identical policy at two different start dates, and you get two very different repair jobs.Flat-rate COLA at the 20th percentile starting in 1988, roughly 75% of the 75-year gap closed, based on Urban Institute DYNASIM4 projections.The same policy starting in 2027, about 50% of the gap closed, according to the Urban InstituteA COLA cap set at the median, about 25% closed, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget indicated. Switching the index to a chained Consumer Price Index, about 15% closed, based on scores from Social Security’s Office of the Chief Actuary.Switching to CPI-E, the version built for older consumers, widens the gap by about 10%, based on the same actuary scores.I lined up those first two rows because the comparison is the cleanest measure of procrastination I have seen in this debate. The identical policy lost roughly a third of its repair power between the Reagan administration and now.Meanwhile, the hole kept growing. The 2026 Trustees Report, which moved the depletion date forward again, puts Social Security’s long-term deficit at 4.42% of taxable payroll, up from 3.82% a year earlier.The retirement fund’s reserves are projected to run out in the fourth quarter of 2032, after which “less than full scheduled benefits would be payable,” according to the Social Security Administration.Translated out of actuarial language by the Bipartisan Policy Center, “Current and future beneficiaries alike will see their benefits cut by 22%.”What a flat-rate COLA would mean for your monthly checkStart with what the 2032 cut looks like in a checking account.The average retired worker collects $2,071 a month after this year’s 2.8% adjustment, the SSA’s 2026 cost-of-living fact sheet confirms. My arithmetic on that figure puts a 22% cut at roughly $456 a month, or about $5,470 a year, arriving with no phase-in and no warning letter.A flat-rate COLA changes who absorbs the slowdown. At the 20th percentile setting, the bottom fifth of lifetime earners would see benefits fall 3% by 2065, while the top fifth gives up 19%, the Urban Institute estimated.Related: Bipartisan senators target Social Security’s shortfallSet the flat rate one notch higher, at the 30th percentile, and the bottom fifth gets a 1% raise while the top fifth drops 17%.What struck me most in that distribution table was the payable-benefit line. Measured against what the trust fund can actually pay after 2032 rather than what the law promises, the lowest-income quintile ends up 13% to 14% better off under either version.Old-age poverty falls, too, by an estimated 5% under the 20th percentile design and 10% under the 30th.The formula matters more than it sounds. Percentage adjustments hold the gap between a small check and a large one steady in relative terms, then widen it in dollar terms every single year.Across a 25-year retirement, that compounding quietly decides how much of the program’s spending reaches people who need it, and how much reaches people who would be fine without it.What Congress can still do before the 2032 deadlineA flat-rate COLA is not a stand-alone rescue. On its own, it buys about two years before the combined trust funds run dry.Paired with an employer compensation tax that applies the employer half of the payroll tax to all wages and fringe benefits, the combined funds stay solvent for 75 years and beyond under the Urban Institute’s 2025 baseline. Under this year’s darker projections, that package gets most of the way there.Had the 1987 version passed, insolvency would have moved out to 2071 by the budget group’s rough estimate, with three-quarters of the gap through 2100 covered and room left for gradual changes to the taxable maximum or the retirement age.That option is gone. The 2027 adjustment is already being estimated in the 3.8% range, which means another year of percentage raises compounding the spread between the largest and smallest checks.Penny got his vindication 39 years late, which is worth nothing to anyone currently cashing a benefit check.The pattern is the useful part. Every option still on the table gets weaker the longer it sits there. The 2032 date is six years out, and whatever version of this fix survives to 2032 will be smaller and harsher than the one on offer now.Related: Analyst drastically lowers Social Security COLA Estimate

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan turned heads during a NewsNation debate, warning that sticky inflation may leave the Federal Reserve with no choice but to raise interest rates again later this year. Moynihan argued that pipeline costs, energy pressures, and persistent household expenses will likely keep inflation elevated well into 2027 and 2028, with the soft-landing narrative running out of steam.Morgan Stanley, though, just entered the debate with a completely different reading of the same economy.Though BofA sees renewed tightening risk, Morgan Stanley believes recent data point in a very different direction. It’s a unique timing, as markets are already positioning around the next Fed move.Morgan Stanley rejects Wall Street’s renewed rate-hike panicMorgan Stanley just pushed back against a popular view that the Federal Reserve will have to resume tightening later this year.The most prominent proponent of the view is Bank of America, whose CEO recently doubled down on three quarter-point rate hikes in 2026, lifting the policy range to 4.25% to 4.5%, as stubborn inflation lingers into 2027 and 2028.More Fed:Cooler inflation delivers big win for Fed interest-rate betsFed’s Waller issues stark warning on inflation, interest ratesGoldman hints at Fed’s next interest-rate bet under WarshMorgan Stanley says that the latest inflation data point the other way. June headline CPI fell 0.42% month over month, while core CPI declined 0.02%. On a year-over-year basis, headline inflation slowed to 3.46%, while core CPI eased to 2.57%.The bank estimates that June headline PCE fell 0.08%, while core PCE rose just 0.17%. It expects inflation to run closer to a 2% annualized pace during the second half.That backs up Morgan Stanley’s out-of-consensus call for no Fed moves in 2026, followed by two quarter-point cuts in 2027, even as markets price one or two hikes.For context, markets assign a combined 71.8% probability to one or two hikes and an 87.7% probability to at least one hike by December, according to Investing.com.

Morgan Stanley expects cooling inflation to keep the Federal Reserve on hold.SimpleImages

Why Morgan Stanley thinks BofA may be wrong Morgan Stanley makes a couple of claims on the economy, but the most analytical of them concerns tariffs.Morgan Stanley forecasts that tariffs have bumped the overall price level by 62 basis points, which is close to its model’s 70-basis-point estimate. However, it lays out the case that tariffs have contributed nothing new to core-goods inflation since February.If that pass-through is essentially finished, Morgan Stanley sees another 60 to 70 basis points of goods disinflation over the next year. Cumulative tariff inflation is also expected to flatten out 0.62 percentage points rather than pushing upward.That, in many ways, goes against the “pipeline costs are still coming” argument from BofA. In my previous coverage, I acknowledged that BofA’s thesis weakens sharply if gasoline, services inflation, and wages cool, and Morgan Stanley is actually offering the hard evidence that this cooling might already be occurring.Could AI become the inflation problem the Fed does not need to fight? Interestingly, Morgan Stanley pointed to an unusual handoff developing within the inflation data.Tariff pressures are fading, but AI-backed demand might be replacing part of it. Case in point: Computer software and accessories have risen more than 20 percentage points since December, while strength in “other video equipment” underscores higher semiconductor costs. The AI boom has been linked a bit too much, I’d argue, to capital expenditures (CapEx).The steep increase in prices for the software, chips, and hardware needed to support that buildout is, in many ways, being ignored.Tariffs eventually wash through the economy, but the big issue with AI demand is that it can persist as businesses grow data centers, software budgets, and computing capacity. In effect, the inflation source might be shifting from imported costs to sustained domestic investment demand.Recent third-party evidence also supports that argument. Several company-level examples that offer a lot of clarity on the situation.Uber: Exhausted its entire 2026 AI budget within four months as token-based software costs surged, Fortune reported.Apple: Raised MacBook and iPad prices as AI demand tightened memory and storage supplies, according to Reuters. Dell: Repriced PCs and servers almost daily to offset rapidly rising component expenses, Channel Dive confirmed.Samsung: Increased Galaxy S26 and foldable-phone prices as higher memory costs pressured margins, according to Reuters.Microsoft: Raised Xbox console prices by $100 to $150, citing sharply higher memory and storage costs, XboxWire noted.Are markets already doing the Fed’s tightening for it? Morgan Stanley doesn’t feel the Federal Reserve needs to respond immediately with a rate increase.Its financial conditions index suggests markets have already delivered tightening equivalent to roughly a 39-basis-point Fed hike since Middle East hostilities began. Of that, about 21 basis points have occurred since the June Fed meeting alone. Higher Treasury yields and a firmer U.S. dollar were the primary catalysts, while resilient stocks and contained credit spreads offset some part of the restraint.Monetary policy also works through these same channels.Rising bond yields raise borrowing costs, a stronger dollar weighs on exports and multinational earnings, and tighter financing conditions can efficiently slow down investment and demand without the Fed formally lifting rates.Morgan Stanley’s argument is not about dismissing inflation risk, though, and it’s actually more about avoiding unnecessary over-tightening. AI demand is keeping goods inflation elevated, but markets might already be imposing enough pressure to justify patience rather than another hike.What does Morgan Stanley’s call mean for investors and consumers?Naturally, Morgan Stanley’s outlook favors long-duration assets that typically benefit when rate expectations fall.Growth stocks, REITs, homebuilders, and longer-dated bonds stand to gain immensely if the Fed stays on hold in 2026 and starts cutting in 2027. Banks might see a lot less support from growing loan yields, though lower rates could eventually ease credit stress and improve borrowing demand.However, the risk is that markets might price in relief too quickly.If AI-related demand continues to keep software, semiconductor, and hardware prices elevated, inflation might remain uneven, even if we see tariffs and energy pressures fade away.For consumers, a Fed pause prevents another immediate bump in variable borrowing costs, covering credit cards, adjustable-rate mortgages, and business loans. However, unchanged rates still leave financing expensive through year-end.Related: Bank of America CEO warns inflation will back Fed into a corner

Walk into any asset management firm that’s been experimenting with AI and ask what the technology is actually doing in their investment process. The answer isn’t usually what you’d expect. It’s rarely about predicting tomorrow’s big mover or finding the next multi-bagger before anyone else figures it out. More often, it’s about what happens to a portfolio after the buying decisions have already been made.A growing number of investment firms are using AI to monitor and rebalance portfolios on an ongoing basis, adjusting positions when something better-ranked appears and flagging when holdings are drifting outside their intended parameters. The research function is still there. But the portfolio management function is where AI is starting to take on a more active role.Why portfolio decisions after the buy are so hard to get rightMost investors know this feeling. You buy a stock and it drops. You hold it, hoping it comes back, even though the reasons you bought it have quietly shifted. Or the opposite happens: Something you bought keeps going up, and you can’t bring yourself to trim it because what if it keeps going? These behaviors show up in study after study on investor psychology. People hold losers too long and trim winners too late, and it happens at the institutional level as much as it does with individual investors.More Wall Street:Wall Street sends strong 4-word verdict on the stock marketWall Street’s $200 billion IPO wave threatens sell-offWall Street flees software plays for triple-digit chipmaker boomPortfolio managers run into a version of this, too, and it’s not just personal attachment. When a stock has grown into a major position and been a strong performer, there’s pressure inside most organizations to leave it alone. Someone recommended it. Someone’s reputation is tied to it. Raising concerns about trimming it can feel like second-guessing a colleague. AI doesn’t have colleagues or reputations, however. It looks at every position with the same criteria every day, and if something else ranks higher, that’s the trade. FINQ, which launched the first SEC-registered ETFs managed entirely by AI, built its framework around exactly that principle.How AI is moving from stock picking to portfolio optimizationThe earliest AI tools in asset management were mostly about generating signals: which stocks looked undervalued, which sectors were showing momentum, where the next earnings surprises might come from. Those tools still exist. But over the past few years, firms have started pushing AI further into the investment process itself.A Mercer survey of 131 asset managers globally found that 55% had already integrated AI into at least one investment process, with 91% planning to increase that use over the next 12 months, Mercer reported. A significant portion of that expansion is happening in portfolio construction and rebalancing, rather than just research.Quarterly reviews miss a lot. A stock that looked like the strongest option in a sector in January can look very different by March if earnings disappoint or the multiple stretches. Most portfolios aren’t set up to catch that in real time. By the time the next review comes around, the position has been sitting for weeks after the data turned.

The ServiceNow and Datadog rotations give a concrete picture of how the system works.M.Santiago/Getty Images

How AI portfolio management works inside a real fundFINQ’s AI-managed ETF uses an autonomous framework to continuously rank companies and periodically rotate portfolio holdings as market conditions evolve, rather than relying solely on discretionary portfolio decisions. It recently illustrated that process by rotating out of positions such as ServiceNow and Datadog after the model identified stronger relative opportunities elsewhere, demonstrating how AI can influence portfolio management beyond simply selecting stocks.The firm put two actively managed ETFs on NYSE Arca in February 2026, AIUP and AINT, describing them as the first SEC-registered funds run entirely by AI. This means humans handle governance and compliance, but the AI makes all the investment calls, Forbes reported. From inception through May 31, 2026, AIUP returned 15.30% compared to 10.07% for the S&P 500 over the same period.The ServiceNow and Datadog rotations give a concrete picture of how the system works. On ServiceNow, the fund captured a gain of approximately 24% from inception through June 2, 2026. At that point, the model determined the stock’s ranking had declined relative to other opportunities and exited the position, moving capital into Expand Energy. In the eight days that followed, ServiceNow fell 16.91%, while Expand Energy declined only 3.26%, against a 4.49% drop in the S&P 500 over the same period.A similar sequence played out with Datadog. The fund held it from inception and captured a gain of approximately 141% through June 3, 2026. The model then exited and rotated into T-Mobile US, which had moved higher in the rankings. In the week that followed, Datadog declined 9.07%, while T-Mobile gained 2.26%, even as the S&P 500 fell 3.82%. These examples are provided to illustrate how the ranking and rotation process operated in specific instances and are not representative of all portfolio decisions or an indication of future results.The approach here isn’t about predicting what any individual stock will do. The system continuously reassesses available opportunities and acts when it identifies a more attractive risk-reward profile elsewhere. What it illustrates is a process where every position has to keep earning its place, and when the data suggests something else ranks higher, the capital moves without hesitation.Why human portfolio managers aren’t going anywherePortfolio managers aren’t being replaced by FINQ’s autonomous framework. The parts of the job that depend on people — such as reading context, managing client relationships, and responding to situations that fall outside what any model was trained on — are still necessary. Political events, regulatory changes, and unexpected crises require interpretation that goes beyond pattern matching against historical data.BCG’s 2026 asset management report found that agentic AI workflows could increase operational capacity by 55% to 65% while reducing costs by around 40%, BCG reported. In practice, that tends to mean portfolio managers spend less time reviewing routine positions and more time on strategy, client conversations, and the judgment calls that actually require their experience.What’s already deployed in a growing number of portfolios is narrower than the full AI-replaces-everything vision. It’s AI that handles the monitoring, the adjustment decisions, and the rebalancing calls where emotional attachment tends to slow things down. Most investors haven’t been paying close attention to this. It’s been happening in the background, which is typically how changes to investment infrastructure work before they become visible.Related: Nvidia CEO doubles down on AI and stock market verdict

While most associate Disney World with the four main theme parks and two water parks, the wider resort and entertainment complex around Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista also includes 25 official hotels for those who want to take the themed Disney experience beyond the park doors.The first two themed hotels, the Contemporary Resort and Polynesian Village Resort, were opened at the same time as Disney World itself in 1971. In 1988, the Grand Floridian Resort launched on the Seven Seas Lagoon, inspired by Victorian-era beach resorts that began popping up on the east coast of Florida in the late 19th century.The five-star resort that has its own stop on the Monorail connecting the different parks is, to this day, Disney World’s flagship and most opulent hotel. The brick-red roof gables visible from a distance signal the start of a Disney vacation just as much as the purple road signs, noted by WDWMagic, on the highway leading to the parks.Café at Grand Floridian Resort and Spa closes until October 2026As it nears the 40-year anniversary of its opening, the iconic Grand Floridian needs regular refurbishments to keep it looking as fresh.The Grand Floridian Café is a casual table-service restaurant located on the first floor of the hotel and overlooking the pool and garden; it was designed as a Victorian-style tea room serving as the focal restaurant inside the hotel.Related: Disney theme park closes dozens of rides for disturbing reasonAt the start of June, Disney World confirmed that it will close the Grand Floridian Café for a monthslong refurbishment. Guests who passed through the resort on July 20 reported that the café has now been closed down, with construction barriers keeping guests away from the area.On its website, Disney writes that the dining establishment will be closed from mid-July until October 2026, although in my experience, construction at the resort tends to run a little longer than announced.Since the Grand Floridian was the only restaurant serving table-service brunch, this menu was moved to the Cítricos restaurant, inspired by “Mary Poppins,” on the second floor of the resort. Normally, Cítricos serves Floridian cuisine with a Mediterranean influence during dinner hours, in more of a fine-dining setting across from the Michelin-starred Victoria & Albert’s restaurant.

The Grand Floridian Café is the central casual restaurant at the iconic Disney World resort.Disney

Guests see first closed signs: “Grand Floridian Café and restrooms are closed for refurbishments””PARDON OUR PIXIE DUST,” the signs on the barriers visible to guests read. “Grand Floridian Café and restrooms are closed for refurbishment. For brunch service, please join us at Cítricos — located upstairs on the second floor. Additional restrooms are located near the lobby or upstairs on the second floor.”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 BahamasUnexpected country is most luxurious travel destination for 2026Low-cost airline launches easier way to get to Sri LankaThe 1900 Park Fare buffet restaurant also remains open during the renovations, as the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa undergoes more extensive work that includes building a new path to the pool and general renovations to the external facade of the hotel building.Related: 32-year-old theme park to close water ride forever after summer season

Rocket Lab built its name launching small rockets from a remote pad in New Zealand, a company founded by Peter Beck in 2006 with a fraction of the budget of its bigger rivals. Lately, its biggest headlines have come from a rocket that has not flown yet.Neutron, the medium lift vehicle designed to challenge SpaceX, keeps slipping its debut date. The launch is now targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026, pushed back again after a tank failure earlier this year, according to NASASpaceFlight.com.That delay has weighed on the stock even as Rocket Lab’s other business, government launch contracts, keeps getting bigger and doing most of the heavy lifting for revenue.Rocket Lab (RKLB) closed at $69.12 on Tuesday, down more than 50% from the all-time high of $150.23 the stock hit on May 27. Then Tuesday evening brought a reminder of why investors bought in the first place. Recently, Morgan Stanley said it thinks Rocket Lab could be the “Player 2” in the aerospace sector.Read more:Why Morgan Stanley thinks Rocket Lab is becoming ‘Player 2’Rocket Lab won a $266 million firm fixed price contract for 12 suborbital launches for the U.S. government, according to a Department of Defense contract listing. Shares jumped as much as 6% in after hours trading, touching roughly $73.45, according to a Seeking Alpha report.Related: Axon and Rocket Lab rallied while chip stocks sankSpace Systems Command locked in launches through 2028Space Systems Command is the agency behind the deal, and the launches will fly from the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Alaska, according to the listing.The government has until Dec. 31, 2028, to complete the work, and it holds an option for six more launches beyond the initial 12, the listing shows.About $112 million in fiscal year 2025 research and development funds were obligated at the time of the award, the listing shows, covering less than half the contract’s total value.That gap matters, since most of the payment will flow only as the government exercises task orders over the next two years.The award was a competitive acquisition, with three offers submitted, the listing shows. Space Systems Command’s contracting office sits at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, even though the launches themselves will happen nearly 3,000 miles away in Alaska.

Rocket Lab won a $266 million Space Force contract for 12 suborbital launches from Alaska, sending shares up 6% after hours.CHANDAN KHANNA / Getty Images

Rocket Lab’s suborbital pipeline keeps expandingThis is not Rocket Lab’s first big suborbital win. In March, the Department of Defense awarded the company $190 million for 20 flights of its HASTE test vehicle, which Rocket Lab called its largest launch agreement at the time in a company statement.The new Alaska contract carries fewer launches but a higher price per mission. Rocket Lab’s combined launch and space systems backlog stood at $2.2 billion as of the first quarter, according to Spaceflight Now.Government test and defense work has become a dependable growth line for a company still waiting on Neutron to prove itself.The company has also been spending to diversify beyond rockets. Rocket Lab agreed in June to acquire satellite operator Iridium Communications for about $8 billion in cash and stock. That deal signals Rocket Lab wants to be judged on more than just how often it launches.SpaceX still dominates, and that is the pointSpaceX handled roughly 50 percent of global launches last year, according to SatelliteToday, a scale Rocket Lab has never tried to match.Rocket Lab instead has built a business around suborbital test flights and national security satellites, niches where dedicated capacity and turnaround speed matter more than price per kilogram.The Alaska contract fits that strategy. It is not a bet on volume. It is a bet on being the company the Pentagon calls when it needs a rocket fast.More Rocket Lab:Axon and Rocket Lab rallied while chip stocks sankWhy Morgan Stanley thinks Rocket Lab is becoming ‘Player 2’Rocket Lab’s $8B Iridium deal opens new satellite-phone testA test range business built on a bigger military shiftThe Pentagon’s push for faster hypersonic and missile defense testing has created demand for suborbital launch providers that barely existed a decade ago.Rocket Lab has positioned itself as an early beneficiary of that shift, one government contract at a time.Neutron will eventually determine whether Rocket Lab becomes a true SpaceX rival. Until then, contracts like this one are doing the work of keeping investors patient.Related: Rocket Lab doubles down on satellite network with $8B acquisition

Retirement readiness in America depends heavily on where a household is located. A 2026 SmartAsset study of Census Bureau data shows the typical household holds roughly $80,000 in tax-advantaged retirement accounts, approximately one year of current income. That national median obscures a striking geographic divide across the country, and the top-ranked state reports a median balance of $150,000 in retirement savings. The bottom-ranked state holds just $35,000, a gap of $115,000 between them. Workplace retirement plan access, not individual behavior, drives most of that disparity.Massachusetts leads while Mississippi trails by $115,000Massachusetts holds the top position among all 40 states with available data, with a median retirement savings balance of $150,000 and a median household income of $104,828, the SmartAsset analysis found.The state’s dominance is not accidental; nearly 75% of Massachusetts households use tax-advantaged retirement accounts, the highest adoption rate in the study, the Census Bureau data showed.At the other end, Mississippi reported median retirement savings of just $35,000 on a median household income of $59,127, with only 41.8% of households using retirement-specific accounts, the lowest participation rate among all states measured.Between those extremes, the pattern is consistent: states where more households use tax-advantaged accounts accumulate significantly more savings, according to the Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation data.States with higher workplace plan participation also show larger median balancesMaryland recorded the highest rate of 401(k) and Thrift Savings Plan usage at 65% of households, and its median retirement balance reached $120,000, ranking fifth nationally, the SmartAsset study confirmed.Washington followed closely, with 60.2% of households contributing to 401(k)s or Thrift Savings Plans and a median balance of $143,400, the third-highest nationally, the research showed.Alabama reported just 33.7% of households using 401(k) plans and a median retirement balance of $46,000, while Louisiana’s 401(k) participation stood at 38.3% alongside a $50,000 median balance, the data indicated.More Retirement:Delaying Social Security to a certain age could cost you $144,000Dave Ramsey warns Americans on 401(k)s, IRAs (he’s not wrong)Vanguard reveals health account best for retirementAARP has quantified the scope of this structural barrier at the national level, reporting that roughly 56 million private-sector workers currently lack access to any employer-sponsored retirement plan.”Older Americans consistently tell us they want policies that expand opportunity and help people build financial security over a lifetime,” said Nancy LeaMond, AARP Chief Advocacy and Engagement Officer.

Workplace retirement plan access, not income alone, explains why some states build significantly larger retirement savings than others.Pressmaster/Getty Images

Cost of living complicates the state-by-state pictureHigher savings balances in states such as Hawaii and Washington do not automatically translate into greater purchasing power, because the cost of living in those states is among the highest in the nation.Hawaii reported the second-highest median retirement savings at $149,000, but median home prices hover above $722,000, according to Redfin’s May 2026 data.Washington’s median home price exceeds $612,000 with an overall cost of living roughly 11% above the national average, according to the C2ER Cost of Living Index. This means a $143,400 retirement balance stretches far less than it would in Oklahoma, where median home prices sit near $264,000.Key retirement savings figures by stateMassachusetts: $150,000 median savings, 74.8% account prevalence, $104,828 median incomeHawaii: $149,000 median savings, 65% account prevalence, $100,745 median incomeWashington: $143,400 median savings, 70.3% account prevalence, $99,389 median incomeNew Jersey: $134,000 median savings, 66.7% account prevalence, $104,294 median incomeOklahoma: $39,450 median savings, 47.9% account prevalence, $66,148 median incomeMississippi: $35,000 median savings, 41.8% account prevalence, $59,127 median incomeSource: SmartAsset analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data, published 2026State-facilitated retirement programs aim to close the access gapRecognizing that employer inaction leaves millions of workers without retirement vehicles, 22 states have now enacted state-facilitated retirement savings programs for private-sector workers, the Georgetown University Center for Retirement Initiatives reported as of mid-2026.Nancy LeaMond, AARP Chief Advocacy and Engagement Officer, noted that simplified automatic enrollment drives higher retirement participation.These programs show that when saving for retirement is easy and automatic, people do itThese programs typically use automatic payroll deduction to enroll workers whose employers do not offer a 401(k) or similar plan, and nearly 1.2 million employees had enrolled in state “work and save” programs as of January 2026, AARP reported.”Expanding access to retirement savings accounts directly advances these goals,” LeaMond wrote in a letter to administration leaders earlier this year, urging national adoption of the model that state programs have tested.Census data reveals the first hurdle is the account itselfThe AARP 2026 Financial Security Trends Survey found that 42% of Americans aged 50 and older who have not yet retired reported having less than $50,000 in retirement savings, while 60% expressed concern about having enough money to last through their post-working years.”With prices rising for everyday essentials like groceries, housing, utilities and health care, current and future retirees are counting on Social Security now more than ever,” LeaMond noted in the survey findings.Among the bottom 10 states in the SmartAsset rankings, retirement account prevalence averaged below 50%, meaning that more than half of households in those states did not use any tax-advantaged retirement account at all.The national conversation around retirement readiness tends to focus on contribution rates and investment returns, but the Census Bureau’s state-by-state breakdown points to a prior question raised by AARP and Georgetown researchers: whether workers have access to a tax-advantaged account at all.Related: Medicare’s costliest gap threatens retirement savings

Micron Technology (MU) stock investors had plenty of reason to expect another ‘DeepSeek moment’ following the launch of Kimi K3.The concerns weren’t new, though, and pretty straightforward.Cost-effective, more efficient AI could weaken demand for the expensive hardware powering the boom. Wall Street was questioning the relentless AI spending cycle, but in a note shared with me, Bank of America moved in the opposite direction.The bank reiterated its Buy rating and $1,550 price target on Micron, arguing the latest AI disruption doesn’t break the memory thesis.Instead, BofA sees the market focusing on the wrong part of the equation.

Micron Technology logo at a semiconductor facility as Bank of America reiterates its bullish Micron stock outlook following the Kimi K3 AI launch Kyle Green/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Kimi K3 raises the stakes in the AI raceAccording to Wikipedia, Chinese AI startup Moonshot AI, which launched Kimi K3 on July 16, was viewed as a major escalation in the country’s push to narrow the gap with U.S. AI developers. More AI:Workers just sent AI companies an ultimatumPalantir CEO has a blunt verdict on OpenAI and AnthropicElon Musk pulls no punches with AI rivals as Grok 4.5 debutsReuters described Kimi K3 as the world’s largest open-weight AI model, with Moonshot claiming it has 2.8 trillion parameters, a 1 million-token context window, and capabilities designed for coding, knowledge work, and deep reasoning.What stood out was Kimi efficiently combining frontier-level performance claims with open weights and considerably lower deployment costs than most of its Western alternatives. Users can download, customize, and operate the model according to their specific requirements rather than relying on closed APIs. On top of that, the release underscored how China’s open-model ecosystem is rapidly advancing, increasing competitive pressure on OpenAI and Anthropic while potentially broadening demand for the chips, memory, and storage needed to run powerful models.Interestingly, as I recently covered, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has been sounding the alarm over customers effectively paying AI companies twice, indirectly supporting the rationale behind Kimi K3’s open-weight release. Businesses can eventually deploy models privately while retaining greater control over prompts, corrections, and workflows that create institutional knowledge. Why does BofA think Kimi’s efficiency still increases memory demand? BofA’s argument hinges on separating compute efficiency and memory capacity.For perspective, Kimi K3 is a 2.8 trillion-parameter mixture-of-experts model, but it activates roughly 50 billion parameters per token, or roughly 1.8% of the total. Naturally, that substantially reduces the amount of computation needed for inference.However, it hardly has an impact on the entire expert pool needed in fast memory.BofA estimates Kimi K3 still requires about 1.4 TB of HBM at native MXFP4 precision and at least 64 accelerators per serving instance. In comparison, OpenAI’s 120-billion-parameter open model needs around 63 GB (roughly 23 times lower).The broader trend is perhaps even more important. DeepSeek V3 had 671 billion parameters, Kimi K2 reached 1 trillion, DeepSeek V4 Pro rose to 1.6 trillion, and Kimi K3 reached 2.8 trillion. Compression can reduce memory per parameter by 50%, but model sizes are growing almost in tandem. That means, even though efficiency per computation is rising, things are getting a lot more memory-intensive per deployment.What happened to U.S. tech stocks?DeepSeek and Kimi K3 sparked similar “China AI shock” moments, sending shockwaves through U.S. tech stocks. When DeepSeek’s R1 gained attention in January 2025, AI poster childNvidia (NVDA) plummeted 17%, losing $589 billion in one session, according to Yahoo Finance, while AI-linked chip, power, and infrastructure stocks collectively lost over $1 trillion.Kimi K3 stoked those fears in July 2026. On July 17, according to Investopedia reporting, the Nasdaq fell 1.4%, the S&P 500 lost 1.01%, and the semiconductor index slid 1.6%, as geopolitical tensions pressured stocks and the market entered a bear market.Why could open-weight AI expand Micron’s addressable market?BofA feels open-weight models are a multiplier for memory demand, as they effectively shift infrastructure ownership from a handful of hyperscalers to thousands of individual users.If users opt for self-hosting models such as Kimi or DeepSeek, they must provision for a tremendous amount of memory.That switches up the economics of the market. An enterprise deployment needs roughly 80 GB of HBM3E; a DeepSeek V3 cluster might require roughly 1.1 TB, and each Kimi K3 instance entails a 64-plus-accelerator system. Ten thousand customers making use of one closed API might share a limited number of model copies. Ten thousand self-hosted deployments create ten thousand separate memory endpoints.The benefit extends beyond HBM. Hot weights sit in HBM; inactive experts spill into DDR5 or LPDDR5X, while cold KV cache and model files shift into enterprise NAND. Context windows between 128,000 and 1 million tokens can push KV-cache requirements above 40 GB per active session.Cheaper pricing increases usage. BofA says global token volume jumped from about 9% per week in 2026, while multi-agent workloads can generate nearly 200,000 output tokens per query versus 200 for basic chat.What does Bank of America think Micron is worth? According to Seeking Alpha, Micron stock is currently trading at $970.82, which means BofA’s $1,550 price target implies approximately 60% upside.BofA used a sum-of-the-parts valuation, which includes the following:$1,040 per share for Micron’s traditional cyclical memory business, valued at 3 times estimated calendar-2028 book valueAn AI HBM component valued at 31 times calendar-2028 earnings, in line with the median AI compute peer multiple..By subtraction, the HBM component accounts for roughly $510 of the $1,550 price target, although BofA doesn’t separately state that figure.BofA also states that Micron’s CHIPS Act-related buyback restrictions are expected to expire around December 2026. Against its projected $120 billion to $130 billion-plusfree cash flow outlook, the bank estimates a 40% payout policy to support $50 billion to $60 billion in share buybacks, equivalent to around 4.5% to 5.3% of the current market cap.Despite its nosebleed valuation, Micron stock is still trading at 13.2 times forward non-GAAP earnings, 46% lower than the sector median and 82% lower than its 5-year average, according to Seeking Alpha.Related: Microsoft CEO’s Anthropic criticism reveals bigger AI power struggle