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From slippery roads due to inclement weather to wildlife jumping onto the highway, driving comes with its fair share of hazards, and that’s not to mention the other drivers on the road. If a car rear-ends you while waiting at a stoplight or someone accidentally swerves into your lane, it can become a he-said, she-said battle to determine your innocence. With clear proof of the incident, you can protect yourself from insurance fraud and vehicle disputes. A dash cam that records video of the road around you is the best way to do this, and investing in one is more affordable than you’d expect. 

Dash cams provide clear, unbiased evidence

Dash cams, short for dashboard cameras, are small video cameras that mount to the car’s dashboard or rearview mirror. The video starts recording automatically when you turn on the car, so once a dash cam is installed, you never have to think about it again — unless you need to access the files. 

Previously, dash cams were almost exclusively used by taxi cabs and police officers, but over the past ten years, the device has become more popular among everyday drivers. I understood why a driver would want a dash cam in theory, but it wasn’t until the autumn of 2024 that I saw a viral video that gave a perfect example of why every driver should own one. 

The dash cam video starts as you’d expect, with cars going down a highway at normal speeds. A small Honda veers into the lane of the filming car and suddenly stops. Thanks to the driver’s fast reflexes, they were able to avoid a collision. The Honda isn’t deterred, switches into reverse, and slams into the driver’s car. Multiple people pour out of the Honda, pretending to be hurt by the “accident,” but their insurance fraud scheme is foiled because it’s all caught on tape. 

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This viral incident is now back in the news because two people involved were sentenced for these crimes. I’m not familiar with the specifics of the court case, but I have to imagine the dash cam footage played a big role in the trial proceedings.

Investing in a dash cam

There’s a huge market of dash cams out there, and there are nearly endless features to consider. We will break down these features, but if you just want an affordable dash cam that just gets the job done, Zymise Front and Rear Dash Cam is one of the most affordable options. It’s a bestseller at Walmart with over 2,700 perfect ratings, and it’s on sale for only $28 — that’s cheaper than a tank of gas these days. This selection also offers 24-hour parking monitoring, so it can keep you protected on or off the road.

Zymise Front and Rear Dash Cam

Courtesy of Walmart

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Dash cam features to consider

It’s easy to encounter decision fatigue when you see the sheer amount of dash cams available. Whittling down your search with a list of must-have features can make this buying process go more smoothly. The two main features you won’t want to budge on are high-quality video resolution and night vision. If the video quality of your dash cam is lacking, it won’t have the resolution to make out license plate numbers, which is a crucial piece of information if you ever experience a hit-and-run. Here are other popular dash cam features that you may find helpful down the road:

Video coverage: You can get a single front-facing dash cam that just records the road in front of you. These are called single-channel dash cams. Dual-facing cameras, or dual-channel dash cams, can be more advantageous because they film both the front and back of the car, giving you a fuller picture of the road. Additionally, you can get a triple-channel system, which also films the interior or the driver. This is helpful if you’re doing ride shares in your downtime, or need to prove that you weren’t texting and driving to a police officer.

Parking mode: All dash cams will record while you’re driving, but not all of them will keep running while you’re parked and the car’s shut off. If you want better protection against burglars or sideswipes when you’re parked on the street, you’ll want a dash cam equipped with a parking mode.

Connectivity: Dash cams typically use a removable microSD card that you have to pull out to download the footage. More advanced dash cams have built-in Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, allowing you to pair them with your smartphone for more convenient access to the videos. Most dash cams won’t have paid subscriptions, but there are a few companies that may charge you for long-term cloud storage.

Dash cam deals under $100

We’ve rounded up the best dash cams in terms of specifications, price, and rating from Walmart, and all of them are available for $100 to help you stick to a budget. Find these dash cam deals below to help you find the device that best suits your daily driving needs.

Lamtto 4-Channel Dash Cam

Courtesy of Walmart

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Dr.Tim.Wang 3-Channel Dash Cam

Courtesy of Walmart

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WolfBox M40Lite Dual-Channel Dash Cam

Courtesy of Walmart

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Redtiger Dual Front and Rear Dash Cam

Courtesy of Walmart

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Gazsocy 8K Dual Car Dash Camera

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Odrey Front and Rear Dual Dash Cam

Courtesy of Walmart

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American homebuyers are waiting for the housing market to throw them a bone. Lower mortgage rates, falling home prices — something to make it more affordable to buy a house.

In the Fannie Mae August Housing Forecast, the government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) warned homebuyers that mortgage rates will probably stay high through 2026 and 2027.

As for home prices? Those aren’t expected to plummet either, according to the Fannie Mae Q3 Home Price Expectations Survey (HPES).

Fannie Mae predicts that home prices will gradually climb, with a cumulative price increase of 14.7% over the next five years.

Fannie Mae expects home prices to keep rising through 2030

Fannie Mae does not forecast a national average dollar sales price. To illustrate what its projected price growth could look like in dollar terms, we can apply those percentages to the Federal Reserve’s Q2 2026 average sales price of $502,700.

Fannie Mae predicts the following annual price increases for each of the following five years, from Q3 2026 to Q4 2030:

2026: +2.5%

2027: +2.2%

2028: +2.7%

2029: +3.1%

2030: +3.3%Source: Fannie Mae Home Price Expectations Survey (HPES)

Related: Fannie Mae revamps mortgage rate forecast

If we start with the Fed’s average price of $502,700 in Q2 2026, this would put the average home sales price at $575,987 by Q4 2030.

That’s a total increase of around $73,300.

How did home prices get this high?

An average home sales price of $502,700 probably already seems high. And an estimated average of $575,987 — that’s a lot to take in. Especially since the average sales price was $357,900 a decade ago, in Q2 2016, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

So how did housing prices get this high?

Home sale prices spiked beginning in 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the U.S. The Federal Reserve slashed the federal funds rate to near zero to help the economy amid furloughs, layoffs, store closures, and lockdowns.

A natural result of the Fed’s slashes was rock-bottom mortgage rates. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to a record low of 2.65% in January 2021, according to Freddie Mac data.

These low rates boosted buyer competition in the housing market. Increased competition can lead to bidding wars that drive up home sale prices, which in turn raise costs across the rest of the local housing market.

More Housing Market:

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Fed data shows that the average home sale price was $371,100 in Q2 2020. It jumped to $428,600 in Q2 2021. By Q2 2022, it was $525,100 — higher than today’s average.

Historic housing inflation during the Covid-19 pandemic played a huge part in today’s high home prices.

Home prices have fallen in some markets since the 2022 peak, but the declines haven’t been broad or severe enough to reverse the pandemic-era gains nationwide.

Instead, housing costs are rising more gradually than they were a few years ago.

Annual increases of 2.2% to 3.3% by the end of 2030 may seem grim. However, they’re much better than the 15.5% increase between Q2 2020 and Q2 2021, or the 22.5% spike the year after that.

The housing market is improving, but the price jumps from the early 2020s still impact homebuyer affordability.

Government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) Fannie Mae predicts gradual home price increases.SOPA Images / Getty Images

What does Fannie Mae’s prediction mean for homebuyers?

So, Fannie Mae predicts that annual home prices will inch up over the next few years. How does that information help people looking ahead to buy a home by the end of 2030?

Fannie Mae isn’t forecasting a housing crash. Leading up to a housing market crash, home prices usually spike — then nosedive. But since Fannie Mae and other analysts expect prices to gradually increase over the next few years, a housing market crash may not be in the cards.

You shouldn’t rely on future price cuts. Don’t base your home-buying decision on the assumption that prices will become dramatically cheaper. Instead, buy when the payment is comfortably affordable for you, and take advantage of negotiating power if you’re in a buyer-friendly market.

You can spend these years building equity. If you can afford to buy a house, buying sooner rather than later gives you the opportunity to build equity over the next few years rather than lose out on the opportunity while values rise.

You can negotiate for lower prices. Yes, average home prices may rise through 2030. But many U.S. home markets are buyer’s markets, meaning homebuyers have more power than sellers. You could use this advantage to negotiate for a better deal, including a lower home sale price.

Related: Homebuyers face opportunity after housing market news

Every technology that threatens to make an industry obsolete eventually becomes that industry’s best customer. Cloud computing was supposed to kill hosting providers, then made them essential.

This week, cybersecurity got its own version of that reversal, and CrowdStrike Holdings (CRWD) is the company living it. Five months ago, an AI model built by Anthropic sent the stock reeling on fears that artificial intelligence would replace the products CrowdStrike sells; everybody panicked.

Now, that same model is the reason CrowdStrike posted the best quarter in its history.

A leaked draft blog crashed cybersecurity stocks

In late March, Fortune reported that Anthropic had accidentally exposed internal documents describing an unreleased model called Claude Mythos.

Related: CrowdStrike’s AI bet just paid off in a big way

The draft described the model as capable of finding software vulnerabilities that human researchers had missed for decades, including flaws buried in major operating systems.

Investors read that as a threat, not a breakthrough. If an AI could autonomously discover the exploits that companies like CrowdStrike are paid to defend against, the logic went, the defenders might become the disrupted rather than the disruptor.

As a result, CrowdStrike shares fell in back-to-back selloffs as the broader cybersecurity sector shed billions in market value.

Five months later, AI cyber fears became the forecast

That thesis just collapsed. CrowdStrike’s fiscal second quarter revenue reached $1.47 billion, up 26% year over year, according to the company’s earnings release.

Net new annual recurring revenue hit a record $333 million, accelerating 51% from a year earlier, and management raised its full-year growth outlook by 630 basis points.

The stock responded with its best single day ever, closing up roughly 20% on August 27, according to CNBC.

CEO George Kurtz named the cause directly in the earnings release: “The Mythos moment translated into mass-market acceptance that AI adoption needs security, and that’s CrowdStrike.”

In a Mad Money interview the same week, Kurtz went further, telling CNBC’s Jim Cramer that the shift is “the realization that the AI adversary is here. They’re moving at inference speed and companies need the technologies that CrowdStrike created to help stop the breach.”

CrowdStrike posted its best trading day ever after Q2 earnings, with CEO George Kurtz crediting the “Mythos moment” AI scare for the demand surge.Sundry Photography / Getty Images

Even AI labs are becoming security customers

The most underreported detail from that interview is not the earnings beat. It is Kurtz’s disclosure of an eight figure Falcon Flex deal with a frontier AI lab.

Asked why an AI developer would need to buy cybersecurity rather than build it internally, Kurtz told Cramer that “it’s very difficult to replicate what CrowdStrike does,” pointing to customer demand as the driver behind the partnership.

That detail matters because it inverts the original Mythos fear entirely.

The companies capable of building Mythos-class models are not competing with CrowdStrike. They are becoming its customers, because deploying agents that operate with broad access to corporate systems creates exactly the kind of exposure CrowdStrike is built to monitor.

A $2 billion bet on secure AI adoption

The demand for secure AI infrastructure is not limited to frontier research labs.

Traditional enterprises are making the exact same calculation, a trend reflected in a massive new milestone for CrowdStrike’s channel business.

CrowdStrike and security integrator Optiv recently surpassed $2 billion in lifetime total contract value, according to a company press release. The two companies reached this second billion in less than half the time it took to achieve their first.

According to the joint press release, this acceleration is directly driven by enterprises standardizing on unified platforms to reduce complexity and build a trusted foundation to securely adopt AI.

Optiv CEO Kevin Lynch noted that customers are overwhelmingly choosing to consolidate their security architecture through the Falcon Flex subscription model.

This proves that the flexible purchasing structure driving CrowdStrike’s eight-figure AI lab deal is also working flawlessly to capture everyday enterprise demand at scale.

Key momentum metrics:

CrowdStrike’s Falcon Flex subscription model ended the quarter with $2.29 billion in annual recurring revenue (ARR), more than doubling year-over-year, per the company’s earnings release.

Rival security stocks rallied alongside CrowdStrike on the same trading day, with Okta rising nearly 29% and Palo Alto Networks, Zscaler and Rubrik each gaining at least 10%, according to CNBC.

Kurtz pointed to an open letter for coordinated cyber defense, signed by more than 100 organizations, as evidence CrowdStrike sees itself as central to the agentic AI era rather than threatened by it.

CrowdStrike and Optiv surpassed $2 billion in lifetime total contract value, hitting their second billion in less than half the time of the first.

Wall Street wants proof this quarter was not luck

Not every analyst is fully convinced the rally has legs. Truist raised its price target to $300 from $245 while keeping a buy rating, according to a Seeking Alpha report.

But analyst Junaid Siddiqui framed the upgrade as conditional, writing that CrowdStrike’s existing long term targets “were established before the acceleration management now attributes to the Mythos event,” and that he wants a clearer roadmap at this week’s Fal.Con conference before treating the growth as durable.

More Cybersecurity:

Biggest AI risk for investors emerges in cybersecurity

OpenAI just disclosed something genuinely alarming

BofA refuses to embrace cybersecurity darling ahead of earnings

The pattern investors keep underpricing

The broader lesson extends beyond one earnings report. Markets consistently treat AI capability jumps as binary threats to incumbents, when the more common outcome is that the capability creates new risk that only incumbents are positioned to manage. Cloud, mobile and the internet all followed that arc.

The question for investors now is whether CrowdStrike can convert this specific moment into a durable category, or whether it is riding a single quarter of fear driven spending that fades once the next model earns its own headline.

Related: Morgan Stanley resets CrowdStrike stock price target after earnings

A familiar presence in American malls is changing how it approaches its brick-and-mortar footprint, closing some locations and planning more shutdowns as it reshapes its store network.

For major retailers, deciding where to maintain a physical presence has become increasingly important as shoppers’ habits evolve and the economics of operating stores remain challenging.

The global fashion industry is expected to grow only in the low single digits in 2026 as macroeconomic volatility, tariff pressures, and weaker consumer sentiment weigh on the sector, according to the McKinsey & Company State of Fashion 2026 Report.

The environment is prompting retailers to rethink not only how many stores they operate, but also where those stores are located and what the in-person experience offers shoppers.

Founded in 1970 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the company opened its first Urban Outfitters store near the University of Pennsylvania before incorporating as Urban Outfitters, Inc. (URBN) in 1976. Since then, it has grown into a lifestyle retailer with a portfolio of global consumer brands, including Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, FP Movement, Anthropologie Weddings, Terrain, Menus & Venues, and Nuuly.

Urban Outfitters closes six stores

Urban Outfitters closed six company-owned locations across its brands in the six months ended July 31, 2026, according to its second quarter of fiscal 2027 earnings report.

Five of the six closures were in North America, including one Anthropologie, one FP Movement, two Urban Outfitters, and one Menus & Venues location. One Urban Outfitters store in Europe also shuttered.

The closures came as the company continued to expand its store network. Urban Outfitters opened 23 company-owned locations during the same period.

In its latest earnings call, the company said it expects to close approximately 18 stores during fiscal year 2027.

At the same time, Urban Outfitters plans to continue opening locations, with about 54 stores expected to open during the fiscal year, including 21 FP Movement, 12 Free People, 12 Anthropologie, and eight Urban Outfitters locations.

The combination of closures and openings suggests the company is not simply shrinking its physical footprint. Instead, it is selectively adjusting its store base while investing in locations and formats it believes can better serve its customers. 

Why Urban Outfitters is closing stores

The recent store closures appear to be part of Urban Outfitters’ broader strategy to evolve its retail footprint as shopping habits change.

In October 2025, the retailer unveiled a refreshed store concept designed around how Gen Z shops today. The format features a brighter, more flexible retail environment, market-specific merchandise, and layouts tailored to local shopping behaviors and community preferences, according to a company announcement.

“Our goal is to be the go-to brand and destination for the categories and brands that define our customers’ style, and a source of inspiration through our creativity,” Urban Outfitters President Shea Jensen said in the announcement. “This new format gives us the freedom to shape our stores around our customers, their lifestyle, and the moments that matter most to them.”

The strategy also involves balancing street-level stores with key mall locations. The company said its new format is intended to allow stores to respond more closely to local customer preferences while maintaining Urban Outfitters’ role as a destination for discovery.

Urban Outfitters said the new store experience would expand to additional U.S. locations in 2026, underscoring that its store strategy involves both opening new locations and evaluating existing ones.

That helps explain why store closures do not necessarily signal a broad retreat from brick-and-mortar retail. Instead, the company appears to be reallocating its physical presence toward locations and formats it believes can generate stronger customer engagement.

Urban Outfitters closes six stores in 2026.Peter Fleming / Getty Images

Urban Outfitters posts record earnings results

Urban Outfitters’ latest financial results also provide a different picture from a traditional retail downsizing story.

During the second quarter of fiscal 2027, the company reported:

Net sales: Increased 10.4% year over year to $1.66 billion

Adjusted diluted EPS: Grew 9% to $1.72

Urban Outfitters said the results marked the eighth consecutive quarter of record sales and profits. Comparable retail segment sales increased across all its brands, with four brands posting record second-quarter sales.

Retail rivals closing stores

Urban Outfitters is not the only mall staple retailer adjusting its store network as shopping habits evolve. Several major retailers have also shuttered locations this year while reassessing their physical footprints.

Here’s some of my previous coverage of recent store closures:

H&M: Closed 128 stores as of May 31, 2026.

Dick’s Sporting Goods: Closed 113 stores across its portfolio during fiscal 2026 through the second quarter.

Inditex: Closed 106 stores during the first quarter of fiscal 2025.

Nike: Closed around a dozen stores during July 2026 alone.

For retailers navigating slower industry growth, changing consumer behavior, and cost pressures, the strategy is increasingly less about simply having more stores and more about operating the right locations in the right markets.

Urban Outfitters’ latest results show that while some of its stores are closing, the company is simultaneously opening new locations, refreshing its retail concept, and reporting record sales and profits.

Related: Sportswear giant closes 113 stores as shares plunge

Kaiser Aluminum (KALU) has been one of the better-performing metal stocks of 2026, but its recent chart tells a rougher story.

The shares climbed to an all-time high in August, then dropped hard over the following weeks. 

UBS looked at that drop and came to a different conclusion than most.

The bank now argues that the fall handed patient buyers a rare chance to own a stronger version of the same company, at a cheaper price.

Here is what UBS sees, why the stock dropped in the first place, and what investors should consider before acting on the call.

Why UBS upgraded Kaiser Aluminum stock to buy

On August 31, UBS upgraded Kaiser Aluminum Corporation (KALU) from neutral to buy and raised its 12-month price target to $184 from $179, Investing.com reported.

That target sat close to 18% above where the stock traded before the call.

More Metal and Materials Stocks:

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The analyst behind the call is Alex Stansbury, who covers metals and mining for UBS and had rated Kaiser at neutral for months before this shift.

His change from neutral to buy is notable because it marks a real reversal, not just a small tweak.

Stansbury told clients the selloff gave investors an attractive entry into a business with improving earnings power, Seeking Alpha reported.

What dragged Kaiser Aluminum shares down before the call

Before the upgrade, the stock had fallen roughly 19% from its August 12 record high of $199.89.

UBS traced the drop to three worries that it views as temporary rather than lasting.

Three fears that spooked KALU investors

Trade uncertainty. Talk of a USMCA renegotiation raised questions about North American trade rules, and that unsettled both retail and institutional holders.

A change at the top. Kaiser named Fred Stephan as its next CEO, effective November 1, replacing 45-year company veteran Keith Harvey.

Scrap profit doubts. Investors questioned whether the wide profit margins Kaiser earns on recycled scrap metal could hold.

None of these affects the company’s core earnings, which is why UBS treats the reaction as an exaggerated pullback.

Kaiser Aluminum supplies high-strength aluminum plate to aerospace and packaging customers.Cheng Xin / Getty Images

The case UBS makes for a higher price

UBS says the market fixated on short-term noise and missed a structurally higher earnings base building underneath, Investing.com reported.

The numbers give that view some support.

Kaiser posted record second-quarter 2026 results, with adjusted earnings of $5.53 per share on $1.3 billion in revenue, figures that beat Wall Street expectations on both lines, according to a press release.

Adjusted EBITDA reached $166 million at a 38.1% margin, Kaiser reported, a measure that strips out financing and accounting effects to show core operating profit.

UBS noted that price, volume, and product mix added about $41 million to Q2 EBITDA, a 60% increase from a year earlier.

Four pillars behind the $184 target

Faster profit growth. Management guided to 45% to 55% full-year EBITDA growth, while UBS models an even higher 66%.

Aerospace demand returning. Airlines and plane makers have worked through excess parts, and rising build rates lift demand for Kaiser’s aerospace-grade aluminum plate.

A cheaper valuation. After the drop, Kaiser traded near 7.5 times estimated EV/EBITDA, below its 8.6 average.

Plant investments paying off. Upgrades at the Warrick and Trentwood sites are scaling up and improving margins.

How Kaiser stacks up against the broader metal trade

Kaiser is not alone.

The wider materials group has quietly outperformed the market this year, helped by the AI data center buildout and steady demand for hard assets.

Aluminum sits inside that same demand story, with buyers in aerospace, packaging, and construction all competing for supply.

Related: Top European bank has a message for investors on gold price

Trade policy adds another layer. 

U.S. tariffs on imported steel and aluminum tend to favor domestic producers like Kaiser, since customers who need American-made metal have fewer places to turn.

That backdrop helps explain why UBS is comfortable stepping in while others hesitate.

What KALU investors should watch before buying in

Wall Street remains split on Kaiser. 

Among the handful of firms covering it, two still rate the shares underperform and one holds neutral, leaving UBS as the lone buy, CNBC reported.

If industrial demand cools or rivals cut prices, other analysts could turn negative and pressure the stock.

A second risk sits with scrap. 

A meaningful portion of near-term profit still leans on the wide gap between what Kaiser pays for scrap metal and what it charges for finished aluminum, and that gap can shrink quickly if commodity cycles turn.

Two practical steps if you act on the upgrade

Scale in gradually. With the stock coming off a steep drop, buying in stages rather than all at once helps cushion against further swings.

Track the handoff. Watch how smoothly Stephan takes over on November 1 and whether output at Trentwood increases as planned, since execution there is central to the UBS thesis.

Neither step guarantees a gain, and a buy rating is one firm’s opinion, not a promise.

The bottom line for investors

UBS is betting that the fears knocking Kaiser Aluminum lower are short-lived, while the earnings engine underneath keeps strengthening.

The record quarter, the aerospace recovery, and the discounted valuation give that argument real footing.

The catch is that most of Wall Street has not joined the call yet, so anyone buying here is moving ahead of the crowd.

For investors who believe in the aluminum demand story and can tolerate near-term swings, the recent pullback offers a lower entry than the summer highs. 

For those who want confirmation first, waiting for a smooth CEO transition and a second bullish analyst voice is a reasonable path.

Related: Bank of America’s latest gold outlook sends a different signal

While big box stores have not wiped out all mom and pop hardware, gardening, and outdoor furniture stores, they have taken over large parts of those industries.

Independent Garden Centers (IGCs) have fallen well behind Lowe’s and Home Depot, according to the 2025 Axiom Gardening Outlook Study.

Gardeners tend to buy more frequently at big-box stores, the data shows.

“This is where our garden centers need to sit up in their chairs and pay attention,” explains Axiom Marketing CEO Mike Reiber. “Home Depot is number one in plants and supplies.”

When asked where they bought most of their garden supplies in 2024, 32% of respondents said Home Depot. Lowe’s and Walmart were second and third place, capturing a respective 19% and 17%. Independent garden centers ranked fourth at 12%, above grocery stores, online sales, farm stores and hardware stores.

On the plant side, Home Depot came out on top again, with 34% of respondents saying they bought most of their garden plants from the big-box store in 2024. Lowe’s lagged far behind at 16% but was followed closely by IGCs at 15%.

That has created a challenging market which has led to Earl May Garden Centers, which was founded in 1919, to close seven of its 28 stores.

Earl May closing 25% of its stores

Earl May Nursery & Garden Center will permanently close its St. Joseph store Sept. 21, ending the company’s nearly century-long retail presence in the Missouri city, reported News Press Now.

Store employee Holly Cechovic confirmed the closure to the newspaper.

“They’re closing seven of their stores,” she said. “We’re the last one in Missouri.”

Earl May grew from a humble start.

“In the beginning, a seed and nursery catalog was sent to only a handful of people. However, at the height of the catalog, over 2 million copies were distributed throughout the United States. Originally, along with seed, Earl May also sold baby chickens, tires, batteries, radios, paint, shoes and clothing, mostly by mail,” the company shared on its website.

In addition to the Missouri closure, the company will shut down six locations in Nebraska, according to the Columbus Telegram.

The company’s website still shows 28 operating locations and makes no mention of the shutdowns. A request for comment was made through the company’s corporate Contact Us page.

More Retail:

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TheStreet did receive an automated acknowledgment of receipt of the request.

“Your request for assistance has been received. Case #SUPP1408624 – “Comment on store closures” has been created for you. A member of our customer care team will respond to your case as soon as possible,” the email read.

IGCs often also sell outdoors and patio furniture. Shutterstock

Local gardening stores have struggled

RTM Nexus CEO Dominick Miserandino thinks that chains like Earl May are fighting a very challenging battle

“Earl May closing seven stores isn’t a surprise—it’s what happens when you try to fight Home Depot and Lowe’s on their own turf,” he told TheStreet. “A 28-store regional chain simply cannot match the buying power or prices of national giants.”

He also noted that the big box leaders have a convenience advantage as well.

“Consumers are already at Lowe’s or Home Depot for three other errands, so grabbing soil and plants there is just easier. Local history and friendly service don’t pay high overhead when foot traffic dries up,” he added.

IGCs, however, do have advantages they can lean into in order to maintain share, according to the Axiom Study.

“Independent garden centers had the edge on plant quality at 30% compared to Home Depot’s 25%. Those standings remained the same when respondents answered where they found the “most knowledgeable associates to answer your gardening questions.”

That’s something IGCs can build on, according to Reiber.

“I believe that the independent garden centers need to explain why their plant quality is higher,” Reiber says. He notes that if IGCs are grower-retailers, they should let customers know their plant material is grown on site. If not, “Tell them about your grower and what is important to them. Tell them what the rock star varieties for your region are,” he adds.

Some IGCs believe they can compete

Wingard’s Market, a South Carolina IGC, co-owner Wally Steinhauser sees Lowe’s as his chief competitor.

“Lowe’s is really more of our competition, because if you look at Lowe’s, it’s designed for women and we found women make most of the decisions on everything that we sell,” he told Garden Center. “I mean, if you go in, it’s nice and soft. The lighting’s soft, the ceilings are lower, everything’s blue. It’s designed for women.”

He does not view Home Depot as going after the same customers.

“You go to Home Depot and it’s all testosterone,” he added.

Steinhauser believes that his company can differentiate with service and education.

“We blind shop the box stores, particularly Lowe’s, and our prices are not that much different than theirs. If it’s within 10%, they’re going to spend it with us. And, typically, somebody’s not going to go to a box store if they’re an experienced shopper,” he added.

As someone who has covered the retail industry for over 30 years, who once ran a large independent toy store, I tend to agree. Yes, you will sometimes educate a customer only for them to leave and make the purchase at a cheaper big box, but, in my experience, you can also build a loyal customer base that will pay a little extra.

ALSO READ: Costco shuts down a key service with no notice

Financial regulators warn about nearly everything. That is the job.

Most of those warnings sound alike after a while, which is why the useful signal is rarely the warning itself.

It is the ranking.

Twice a year, ahead of the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors’ meetings, the Financial Stability Board sends a letter laying out what is most likely to break next in the global financial system.

Those letters tend to open with the same cast of characters. Sovereign debt markets. Private credit. Asset valuations that have run ahead of themselves. Borrowed money sitting somewhere nobody has checked recently.

They are useful documents. They are also predictable ones, and anyone who follows markets closely could sketch the top of most of them without help.

The letter that landed Monday, Aug. 31, ahead of the meetings in Asheville, North Carolina, opens exactly that way.

Then it breaks pattern.

Above the sovereign debt, above the private credit, above the stretched valuations, the world’s top financial stability body puts one thing first: what artificial intelligence is about to do to cybersecurity.

The FSB now ranks AI cyber risk first and warns retail leverage could deepen selloffs.Maskot / Getty Images

How Europe’s regulators got here on AI cyber risk

Cyber risk has appeared in financial stability reports for more than a decade. It usually reads as a maintenance item, the regulatory equivalent of reminding everyone to change the smoke alarm batteries.

That changed this year, and it changed in Europe first.

Frontier models are the most capable systems available, the ones that operate with real autonomy and solve problems without step-by-step instruction.

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They can now discover vulnerabilities, generate working exploits and autonomously execute full-scale attacks at a speed and accuracy far beyond earlier AI systems, according to the European Systemic Risk Board.

The ESRB raised its systemic cyber risk assessment to “severe” in June, up from “elevated” in March, according to the same warning.

Then supervisors attached a date to it. Eurozone lenders including Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas and Santander were given until Oct. 31 to file plans detailing how they will harden themselves against AI-enabled attacks, reported Euronews.

Here is how the year escalated:

March 2026: European regulators classified systemic cyber risk from advanced AI as “elevated,” according to the ESRB.

June 25, 2026: That classification was formally upgraded to “severe,” according to the ESRB.

July 7, 2026: Eurozone banks were given an Oct. 31 deadline for AI cyber action plans, reported Euronews. 

Aug. 31, 2026: The FSB called AI cyber risk the financial system’s most immediate concern, according to the Financial Stability Board. 

What the FSB letter actually asks banks to do

The Financial Stability Board is not a regulator. It writes no rules and levies no fines. It coordinates the national authorities that do, across 24 countries, which makes its letters a reasonable proxy for where global supervisory attention is heading next.

Frontier AI “may have the ability materially to alter the speed, scale and economics of cyber risk, which could undermine market confidence system-wide,” wrote Bailey, especially given how few third-party technology providers the financial system leans on.

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The concrete demand is buried further down, and it is the part I would flag to anyone holding bank stocks. Institutions need the ability to restore critical systems and data from “bare metal” after a significant cyber incident, according to the letter.

Bare metal means rebuilding from bare hardware. No backups you can trust, no clean images, no shortcuts. Start over.

That is not a patching request. That is a regulator telling banks to prepare for the scenario where the recovery plan itself has been compromised.

Bailey also wants governments to move. Many jurisdictions still lack protocols governing how advanced frontier models get developed, released and deployed, and fixing that should be a priority, according to the Financial Stability Board.

Why leveraged ETFs show up in a financial stability letter

The second half of the letter is where retail investors enter, and I think it is the part most coverage will skip.

Leverage in equity markets has climbed, driven partly by greater use of leveraged exchange-traded funds and correlated momentum strategies, including by retail investors, according to the letter.

Read that again. Products marketed to individuals now appear by name in a document written for finance ministers.

Leveraged ETFs multiply a single day’s move, often two or three times over. They are built for short holding periods, and they punish anyone who treats them as a buy-and-hold position.

The concern is not simply that people are borrowing. It is that borrowed money is compounding with high valuations and heavy concentration in AI-linked names, in a way that could make an ordinary correction considerably worse.

Bailey noted that rising leverage typically shows up late in a market cycle, amplifying gains on the way up and declines when sentiment turns. Central bankers have grown steadily more nervous about how the AI boom is being financed since the spring.

Recent weeks offered a preview. Semiconductor companies in the S&P 500 shed roughly $1.5 trillion in combined market value during the summer repricing, cutting the industry’s index weight from nearly 20% to 16%, according to Citadel Securities.

What to watch after the G20 meetings wrap

What struck me most is how far Bailey personally has traveled in eight weeks.

On July 7, when the European Central Bank issued its deadline, the Bank of England governor called the move sensible but said his institution would not be issuing edicts, preferring to share findings collaboratively.

On Aug. 31, wearing his FSB chair’s hat, he put the same risk at the top of the G20’s list and asked governments to build model-release protocols.

That gap is the story. The most cautious major central banker on this subject moved from voluntary cooperation to naming it the system’s most immediate threat, and he did it without a triggering incident in between.

Three things worth watching from here.

Whether U.S. supervisors follow the ECB with a deadline of their own, since no American regulator has set one. Whether the FSB converts this letter into sound practices, which it has signaled it is exploring. And whether the Oct. 31 European filings surface anything alarming enough to move bank stocks. Investors got their first real look at the cybersecurity problem this summer.

For everyone else, the practical takeaway sits in that second half of the letter. When the world’s financial stability watchdog lists what could turn a correction into something worse, it now names the products in your brokerage account.

Related: Biggest AI risk for investors emerges in cybersecurity

Wall Street’s most recognizable stock commentator just made a call. He wants a company to announce the biggest share repurchase in corporate history. That company is already buying back tens of billions of its own stock.

Jim Cramer made the case on “Mad Money” on Sept. 1. He argued that Nvidia should begin a $500 billion buyback and repurchase shares daily. He pointed to Apple as the model, CNBC reported.

What Cramer wants Nvidia to do with its cash

“I’d quintuple the buyback authorization,” Cramer said. “Announce a monster half trillion dollar buyback and repurchase a tenth of the company in a fairly aggressive fashion, every day, clockwork, and get bigger on the down days.”

The proposal would dwarf what Nvidia already has in place.

In May, Nvidia’s board approved an additional $80 billion in share repurchases with no expiration date. In the first two quarters of fiscal 2027, the company bought back nearly $40 billion of stock. That is almost as much as it bought back in all of fiscal 2026.

Nvidia repurchased roughly $34 billion in fiscal 2025. The buyback pace has accelerated sharply.

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Nvidia CFO Colette Kress addressed shareholder returns on the Aug. 26 earnings call. The company had already exceeded its own target.

“Relative to our plan to return 50% or more of free cash flow, we returned 60% on a year-to-date basis,” Kress told investors. “And going forward, we intend to increase and return excess free cash flow net of strategic uses.”

Cramer’s view is that even 60% is not enough. He wants Nvidia to go much further. Not because the company lacks other uses for capital, but because he believes the stock is not being rewarded for its growth.

Why Cramer says Nvidia stock isn’t getting credit

Cramer’s argument rests on a disconnect between Nvidia’s business performance and its share price.

Since its October 2025 GTC conference in Washington, the chipmaker has repeatedly raised its demand visibility. Each earnings cycle has brought higher guidance. The stock has not responded in kind.

Last week, the company issued an outlook for roughly 70% revenue growth in fiscal 2028, compared with the roughly 45% growth Wall Street had expected.

Nvidia shares have given back much of their post-earnings gains. They are up only about 8% since that Oct. 28, 2025, event. The S&P 500 advanced roughly 11% over the same period.

“Whatever Nvidia’s doing, it simply is not being rewarded by Wall Street,” Cramer said.

In his view, a massive buyback would signal management’s confidence. It would reduce the share count and increase the ownership stake of remaining shareholders. It would also give the company a consistent source of demand during volatile periods.

Part of the skepticism around Nvidia’s valuation stems from its growing role in financing AI infrastructure.Kiyoshi/Getty Images

Why Cramer points to Apple as the model for Nvidia

Apple spent years repurchasing its own shares when management believed the stock was undervalued. Those buybacks reduced Apple’s share count by roughly 40% during Tim Cook’s tenure as CEO.

According to FactSet, Apple bought back more than $800 billion worth of stock during Cook’s 15 years, CNBC reported.

“That’s why they should do like Apple, which also was valued incorrectly, and repurchase a spectacular amount of stock,” Cramer said.

Buybacks increase earnings per share because there are fewer shares outstanding against the same pool of profit. That is the mechanical advantage Cramer is pointing to.

Cramer’s Charitable Trust, the portfolio run by CNBC’s Investing Club, owns shares of both Apple and Nvidia.

What the circular financing debate means for the buyback case

Part of the skepticism around Nvidia’s valuation stems from its growing role in financing AI infrastructure. Nvidia has used its balance sheet to help customers fund purchases of computing infrastructure.

Those arrangements have fueled concerns about circular financing, in which a company provides support to customers that then spend that money on its products.

Cramer pushed back on the concern, arguing that Nvidia has an advantage traditional lenders do not.

“Worst case scenario, they repossess the GPUs, maybe even at the price they sold them for,” he said.

Even so, Cramer said Nvidia could put more of its capital toward something Wall Street would find easier to appreciate than customer financing commitments.

Cramer’s proposal is an opinion, not a company announcement. Nvidia has not authorized a $500 billion buyback, and any such plan would require board approval.

Investors should weigh several things. Would large ongoing repurchases constrain research and strategic investments? How do they compare with acquisitions, partnerships and customer financing programs? Would the market read a $500 billion buyback as confidence in the stock or as a signal that the company has run out of better places to put its money?

A buyback is a powerful tool when a company believes its shares are cheap. But it does not explain underperformance on its own.

Nvidia’s stock may have lagged for reasons a repurchase program would not fix: valuation concerns, circular financing fears, regulatory risk, or broader market sentiment.

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Wall Street firms spend the back half of every year deciding where the next round of gains might come from. 

Their research gives investors a shortcut, since it packages deep company knowledge and financial modeling into a short list of names worth watching.

Raymond James just published one of those lists.

The firm’s Analyst Current Favorites highlights the stocks its analysts like best for the rest of 2026. 

What stands out is the approach. Raymond James did not simply reward the biggest winners of the year. It went looking for stocks that still offer attractive value at today’s prices.

Two names on that list stand out because both have been punished by the market this year: SBA Communications (SBAC) and Somnigroup International (SGI).

Here is what the firm sees in each one, and what it means for your money.

Why Raymond James likes SBA Communications after a rough year

SBA Communications is a real estate investment trust, or REIT, but it owns nothing that looks like a normal landlord’s property.

A REIT is a company that owns income-producing real estate and passes most of its profits to shareholders as dividends. 

SBA’s version of real estate is the physical backbone of your phone signal.

The company owns thousands of cellular towers, small cells, and antenna systems across North, Central, and South America, plus Tanzania and South Africa. 

It leases space on those towers to wireless carriers under long-term contracts that raise the rent each year.

The real money comes from a feature called colocation. 

One tower can hold equipment from several carriers at once, so SBA collects rent from multiple tenants on a single site. Each new tenant makes that tower more profitable without much added cost.

That model has not protected the stock in 2026. 

Shares have been volatile because major U.S. carriers slowed their aggressive network buildouts, which in turn slowed SBA’s site development business.

Raymond James named SBA Communications and Somnigroup as top stock picks for the rest of 2026.SOPA Images / Getty Images

What SBA’s latest earnings tell investors

The core business is still making money, even with the slowdown.

In the second quarter, SBA reported revenue of $715.3 million, up just over 2% from a year earlier and nearly $10 million above forecasts.

Adjusted Funds From Operations, the cash-flow measure REIT investors watch most closely, came in at $3.05 per share, down from $3.17 in the prior year.

Here is why that number matters to you.

AFFO tells you whether a REIT actually generates enough cash to keep paying its dividend. SBA’s did. 

The company’s quarterly payout of $1.25 annualizes to $5 per share and gives a forward yield of about 2.7%, with the latest dividend declared on Aug. 3 for payment on Sept. 17.

The Raymond James price target on SBAC

Ric Prentiss, the Raymond James analyst covering SBA, thinks the sell-off in tower stocks has gone too far.

Prentiss has covered the telecom and tower sector for more than two decades. 

His track record backs that experience up, since investors who followed his SBAC calls and held for a year turned a profit 75% of the time.

He argues that towers are steady, cash-producing businesses that hold up well when the economy wobbles. Prentiss also thinks fears about satellite competition are overblown, and he sees the biggest valuation opportunity in SBAC.

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That view earns SBA a Strong Buy rating and a $264 price target. From current levels near $191, that points to roughly 41% upside over the next year, TipRanks reported.

The majority of Wall Street is more cautious. SBAC holds a Moderate Buy consensus from 15 analysts, with eight Buys and seven Holds, and an average target of $223.21.

Why Somnigroup made the list despite a 30% drop

The second pick sits in a very different corner of the market.

Somnigroup International is a bedding company with a market capitalization of about $13.5 billion, and it is the largest bedding maker in the world. 

Its brands include Tempur-Pedic, Sealy, and Stearns & Foster.

The global sleep market is worth about $120 billion, and Somnigroup pulled in nearly $7.5 billion of that in 2025, a figure that jumped more than 51% from the prior year.

That jump was not organic growth. It came almost entirely from folding in Mattress Firm’s retail sales after the February 2025 acquisition closed.

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The company runs three business units, Tempur Sealy, Mattress Firm, and Dreams, across more than 100 countries, with 73 manufacturing sites and more than 2,800 retail stores.

Much of that footprint is new. 

The company was called Tempur Sealy until the $5 billion cash-and-stock Mattress Firm purchase. Then it was renamed Somnigroup, drawing on the Latin word for sleep.

The integration costs weighing on SGI stock

Buying Mattress Firm widened Somnigroup’s reach, but folding in a business that large has been messy.

SGI stock is down about 30% this year as investors weigh a slower bedding market, a weak U.S. housing backdrop, and integration strain. 

Mattress Firm’s gross margins have slipped 360 basis points since the deal, though the unit stays profitable.

Those pressures showed up in the numbers.

In the second quarter, revenue landed at $1.82 billion, down 3% year over year and missing estimates by nearly $59 million. 

Adjusted earnings of 58 cents per share matched forecasts.

One bright spot stood out. Somnigroup generated $236 million in operating cash flow, which its management called a second-quarter record.

The Raymond James case for buying SGI now

Raymond James analyst Bobby Griffin thinks investors are fixated on short-term trouble and missing the longer setup.

Griffin, who has covered consumer and hardline retail names at the firm for years, sees the pullback as a chance to buy a quality business at a discount.

His argument rests on three drivers he expects to play out over the medium term.

3 things that must go right for Somnigroup

Cost and revenue synergies from the Mattress Firm integration keep building.

Market share gains continue across all segments.

Margins expand through better product mix, scale, and efficiency.

Griffin rates SGI a Strong Buy with a $90 price target, implying about 44% upside from current levels, according to TipRanks.

He is not alone. SGI holds a unanimous Strong Buy rating, with all nine covering analysts recommending it and an average target near $91. 

Griffin’s firm has reiterated that bullish stance through the year, including after Somnigroup agreed to acquire Leggett & Platt, Investing.com reported.

How these two picks stack up against the market

Both stocks have something in common. Each has fallen this year, and each carries an analyst betting that the decline created an opening.

That setup can reward patient investors, but it comes with a clear catch.

Griffin himself noted the recovery in mattress demand will not move in a straight line, given soft housing and broad economic uncertainty. 

The same caution applies to SBA, where a faster carrier slowdown would keep pressure on its development revenue.

What this means for your next move

SBA Communications and Somnigroup International are recovery bets, not sure things. 

The upside on both names depends on trends that are still unfolding, from tower spending to housing demand.

A few points worth keeping in mind:

Analyst targets describe a one-year view, and they change as conditions change.

SBA’s roughly 2.7% dividend pays you something while you wait, while Somnigroup’s smaller payout offers less cushion.

A weaker housing market or a deeper carrier pullback could delay either recovery.

For investors who prefer buying solid companies when sentiment is low, both fit that profile. Just size the position for the risk, and do your own homework before acting.

The stocks Raymond James likes best are the ones the market likes least right now. Whether that gamble pays off depends on how the rest of 2026 unfolds.

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A Pennsylvania furniture store is permanently closing, but declining sales are not to blame.

In this case, it’s time for the owner to retire from the business.

107-year-old retail store Weiss Furniture in Latrobe, Pa., will close permanently following a liquidation sale that begins Sept. 3, the shop’s owner said in a statement.

Weiss Furniture will shut down its business after 107 years of operation.Shutterstock

Retirement leads to furniture store closing

The furniture store’s fourth generation owner Dalia Dunhoff will retire after the going-out-of-business sale concludes.

Weiss Furniture, located at 533 Depot St., was already advertising its Labor Day sale on its website, Facebook, and Instagram when it disclosed the closing and liquidation in a statement on Aug. 31.

Store sells major brands

The store advertised discounts on major brands in the Labor Day sale, such as La-Z-Boy, Ashley, Serta, Catnapper, Southern Motion, and Vaughn-Bassett and offered a contest to win a $250 gift certificate, which the winner will need to use quickly before the store closes.

Dalia Dunhoff and her late husband Richard acquired full ownership of Weiss Furniture in 2007 and continued offering quality furnishings and personal service. Dalia continued as sole owner after Richard’s passing three years ago but decided it was time to retire from the business.

“My family has had the privilege of helping generations of families furnish their homes and celebrate life’s milestones,” Dalia Dunhoff said in a statement. “Richard cared deeply about this business and the people we served, and I’m incredibly thankful for the loyal customers, employees, and friends who have sustained Weiss Furniture for more than a century.”

Weiss Furniture founded in 1919

The father and son team of Joseph and Hymen Weiss founded Weiss Furniture in 1919, with Hymen acquiring full ownership in 1937 upon the death of his father. Hymen’s brother-in-law William Dunhoff became a partner in 1950, and the store moved to its current location at the corner of Depot Street and Lincoln Avenue in 1952.

William Dunhoff took over the business in 1973 upon Hymen’s retirement. William’s sons, Richard and David, later joined the company, with Richard eventually taking over ownership.

Weiss Furniture isn’t the only century-old furniture store to close as its owner reaches retirement.

103-year-old store also closed

Another iconic furniture store, 103-year-old Baker’s Main Street Furniture in Garland, Texas, launched a going-out-of-business sale in August as the owner planned to retire but did not indicate its final day of operation.

The furniture store opened in Wylie, Texas in 1923 and relocated to Garland nine years later.

Other furniture retailers that have closed after decades of operation include 75-year-old Pennsylvania home furnishings chain Waltman Furniture, which closed its remaining location and warehouse after completing a liquidation sale that began on April 9. The owner planned to retire after completing the sale.

Also, 67-year-old Greenbaum Home Furnishings, which at one time operated four stores and a warehouse in Washington, closed its last remaining store in Bellevue, Wash., after conducting a final retirement sale that began in March 2026.

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