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Why we love this deal

Almost every American owns flip-flops. They’re useful for basically everything, from a quick errand to gardening to throwing in your suitcase during your next vacation. They’re quick and easy to slide on and off, and the minimal design allows you to pack them in a suitcase, backpack, or just keep them in your car — they’re comfortable for all sorts of occasions. Because of these things, they can wear out pretty quickly with daily use. If you want to stock up on some extra pairs or are looking to buy some for the family, we’ve found a deal you won’t want to miss.  

Sometimes a deal is just too good to pass up, and the No Boundaries Ocean Flip-Flops fit that bill. For just $4, you can grab a comfortable and easy pair of sandals for any occasion. They’re great for the beach, to use as shower shoes, for running errands, or just hanging out in the backyard. Despite the price, they’re racking up a good number of 5-star ratings, with many people boasting about the comfort. 

No Boundaries Ocean Flip-Flops, From $4 at Walmart

Courtesy of Walmart

Shop at Walmart

Why do shoppers love it?

Flip-flops offer ultimate versatility, and these are no different. The lightweight design features a thick ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) foam footbed that supports your natural movement. The foam is waterproof, making it an ideal option for the beach, pool, shower, or casual outings on hot summer days. The raised design on the sole helps prevent slipping, allowing water to flow under your feet instead of hydroplaning.

Related: Amazon is selling orthopedic sandals for $19 that have ‘excellent arch support’

The foam straps move with your foot and provide comfort that doesn’t chafe. Shoppers have said these are also ideal for wider feet, as the foam forms around your foot as you walk instead of fighting it as some harder plastic straps may do. These flip-flops are available in sizes 7 through 13, and are available in multiple colors. The tan color and the blue color are both available for $4, but prices may vary depending on the size. 

Details to know

Sizes: Choose from sizes 7 through 13.

Color: The tan and blue colors are both available for $4.

Material: The EVA foam is waterproof and flexible, so it moves with your feet as you walk. 

One reviewer said, “The sandals were exactly as described. The quality was great, and my husband loves them. They’re extremely comfortable. They were packaged very nicely and did not convey a cheap product.”

“My husband really likes these flip-flops. They’re really comfy, lightweight, and easy to slip on and off. He normally has more complaints but none with these.”

Shop more deals

Ousimen Arch Support Flip-Flops, $13 (was $15) at Walmart

Clarks Cloudsteppers Reyna Flip-Flops, $30 (was $33) at Walmart

Dreampairs Comfort Arch Support Flip-Flops, $19 (was $26) at Walmart

The No Boundaries Ocean Flip-Flops provide a solid, comfortable sandal option at a super affordable price. They’re flexible and move with your foot, and feature a waterproof design that’s perfect for watersports. At $4 per pair, shoppers can stock up on a few pairs or grab some for the whole family.

Target is gaining ground in the battle for customers as Walmart steps up its value push.

In recent months, Walmart has doubled down on lowering prices to attract budget-conscious customers amid economic uncertainty.

This push includes Walmart increasing its “rollbacks” to 7,200 across its stores in the first quarter of this year. It also introduced generous back-to-school deals in June, a move Target later followed with deals extending into August.

Walmart then launched a savings event from June 22 to June 28, directly competing with Target Circle Days, which ran from June 23 to June 26.

“When I look at the consumer, especially here in the U.S., they’re telling us they’re feeling some pressure, and they’re looking to Walmart for value,” said Walmart CEO John Furner on an earnings call in May. “We’re continuing to invest in prices, extending the rollbacks we started in the second half of last year, and we now have about 7,200 rollbacks in place.”

Target beats Walmart in store foot traffic as sales climb

As Walmart sharpens its focus on attracting customers with lower prices, Target has recently surpassed it in foot traffic as its new CEO implements his turnaround plan.

In the second quarter of this year, Target’s overall store foot traffic increased by 4.7% year over year, while Walmart’s only increased by 0.7%, according to recent Placer.ai data. 

Also, Target revealed in its latest earnings report that it increased its comparable sales by 3.8% year over year during the quarter, while digital comparable sales grew 8.7%. 

During a media call with reporters, Target CEO Michael Fiddelke said the company saw sales grow in all six of its core merchandising categories during the quarter, while non-merchandise sales grew 20% year over year.

Related: Target sees unexpected shift in customer behavior

Target Chief Merchandising Officer Cara Sylvester said on the call that the company is seeing shoppers “responding to affordable school supplies” and newness in its grocery category.

“We completed our largest reset of the dry grocery, center store groceries, that we’ve had in over a decade, and so really making sure that we could put our space and assortment behind where the guest is going and delivering Target’s weak point of view on food,” said Sylvester.

She said this strategy includes “leaning in on wellness, global flavors, newness, (and) emerging brands.”

Sylvester also said that Target’s snacks segment, one of its largest businesses, drove double-digit comparable sales growth during the quarter. 

“We’re seeing momentum in areas like protein and better-for-you snacking, really gaining share in some of the emerging brands in the categories where we’ve invested,” she said. 

Target’s grocery revamp comes as Walmart remains the top grocery retailer by market share, according to recent Numerator data shared with TheStreet. Walmart reached 20.3% grocery market share in the 12 months ended June 30, up 0.3% year over year. 

Target saw foot traffic rise as it comparable sales increased by 3.8% during the second quarter of 2026. Brandon Bell / Getty Images

Target promises more price cuts as customers pull back spending

Fiddelke said the company is placing greater emphasis on offering value to customers, including rolling out more price cuts, as it enhances its product lineup with more trending styles and designs. 

“As we continue to lean into our style and design roots, we are equally focused on delivering value for our guests,” said Fiddelke during the media call. “Over the past year alone, we have lowered prices on more than 10,000 items, with more to come. And this back-to-school and back-to-college season, 95% of our school supplies assortment is priced at or below last year’s retail prices.”

Target received almost $1 billion in tariff refunds during the second quarter, which it plans to continue using to offer lower prices to customers. 

More Retail:

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“We have and will continue to invest in price to ensure our guests are getting tremendous value each and every time they visit us at Target,” added Target Chief Financial Officer Jim Lee.

Target’s decision to cut prices for customers comes at a time when more Americans are reducing their retail spending amid economic pressures such as food inflation, lack of affordable housing and rising gas prices. 

A recent report from the U.S. Department of Commerce revealed that retail sales declined by 0.6% in July from the previous month, making it the steepest drop since May 2025. The decrease came after a 0.2% increase in retail sales in June. 

“Retail sales disappointed in July,” said Bill Adams, chief U.S. economist at Fifth Third Commercial Bank, in an emailed statement to TheStreet. “Consumers pulled back on discretionary spending after the rising cost of gas and other energy prices strained the cost of living.

“The personal saving rate (percentage of disposable personal income) was the lowest since mid-2022 in June,” he continued.

Related: Publix makes significant checkout policy change for customers

Are you having a hard time finding a streaming TV service that makes you “happy” in 2026?

Between perpetual price hikes and changing content offerings, finding a video streaming service that makes everyone in your home satisfied seems increasingly difficult.

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) just revealed its annual findings on the streaming TV industry.

And as you peruse the results, you may be surprised to learn that some of the live TV services we’ve come to associate with “streaming TV” are no longer considered a part of the “Video Streaming Service” space by the ACSI.

Instead, live TV streamers like YouTube TV are now considered part of the “Subscription TV Service” subset that includes legacy cable TV providers.

As you may have guessed, that does impact the rankings in the 2026 survey.

Let’s look at this year’s findings.

4 Streaming Services Top 2026 ACSI Rankings

Each year, streaming TV is assessed by the ACSI among many other consumer-based product categories.

But as I hinted above, the ACSI has significantly changed how it classifies the streaming TV market.

Video on-demand streaming services like Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video are now joined by free streaming services like Pluto TV and Tubi to comprise the “Video Streaming Services” category. And live TV subscriptions like YouTube TV and Fubo are now considered part of the “Subscription TV Service” category.

With those category distinctions in mine: There’s a four-way tie atop the list of best “Video Streaming Services” for 2026.

Amazon Prime Video

Paramount+

YouTube Premium

Pluto TV (debuting in the survey as a free service)

Each winner had a survey score of 79, 1% short of the 80 score that won in 2025.

The Roku Channel (78) and Tubi (77), which are two of our top free streaming suggestions (alongside Pluto TV), also debuted near the top of the list.

ESPN+ was one of the top climbers year-over-year, moving up 4% after ESPN launched its direct-to-consumer service in August 2025.

Netflix, Peacock and Apple TV were three of the notable fallers this year after increasing subscription prices.

The 2025 survey winner was a three-way tie between Paramount+, Peacock and YouTube Premium with a score of 80.

It’s also worth noting that the live TV streamers that were moved out of this category did not win in their debut year in the “Subscription TV Service” category. That honor went to Verizon Fios.

Understanding the Rankings

As an industry, the Video Streaming Services category fell 1% in overall customer satisfaction this year. This was in tandem with Subscription TV Services posting the strongest customer satisfaction gains of any category measured in the 2026 study.

That’s significant because it includes many legacy subscription models that many had “left for dead” in the race to get subscriptions for specialized video streaming services.

Are we seeing a shift in consumer appetite?

“Content and technology improved across the board this year, yet in most of these industries, satisfaction still declined or barely moved. That’s because a better product is the baseline now; it doesn’t move the needle,” Forrest Morgeson, Associate Professor of Marketing at Michigan State University and Director of Research Emeritus at the ACSI, said via the study’s press release. “What moves satisfaction is making the whole experience simpler. Fewer accounts, easier billing, less time managing subscriptions. Subscription TV figured that out. Video streaming and sports betting are still adding features while customers are asking for less complexity. Until that changes, more features won’t translate into higher satisfaction.”

It’s worth noting that though Subscription TV scores are on the rise and Video Streaming scores are on a slight decline, the Video Streaming satisfaction score is still 5% higher than Subscription TV in 2026.

To me, that indicates there’s still work to be done by streamers in both categories as customers seek simpler content consumption and more stable pricing.

How did your favorite streaming TV service fare in this survey? Do you agree with the rankings? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the Clark.com community.
The post These 4 Streaming TV Services Sit Atop 2026 Customer Satisfaction Rankings appeared first on Clark Howard.

K-pop superstar Yeonjun of TXT just finished his U.S. promos for his second EP, NO LABELS: PART 02, on a whirlwind trip to NY and LA for nonstop events.

Diana Taurasi had her No. 3 retired and unveiled in the rafters of Mortgage Matchup Center on Sunday. She’s the sixth member of the Mercury in the Ring of Honor.

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

Why we love this deal

Avid jewelry lovers might know which pieces in their collection sparkle and shine the most, but shoppers would be surprised to know that different styles and pieces accentuate your face and body in a multitude of ways. For example, curved hoops can really flatter square faces with angular jawlines whereas short necklaces and button stud earrings can add width and shorten narrow faces. When you’re searching for the most flattering earrings, bracelets, and necklaces for your face, you can’t go wrong with Macy’s, especially when their semi-annual jewelry sale offers discounts up to 70% so you can grab great styles like the Macy’s Diamond Teardrop Earrings for super affordable prices. 

Great for round faces but gorgeous on anyone, drop styles like the Macy’s Diamond Teardrop Earrings elongate the face, using vertical lines and length to create optical illusions. Right now, the stunning style is 65% off. Save $130 on the $200 diamond and sterling silver drop earrings and get your own pair for just $70 during this limited-time special sale.

Macy’s Diamond Teardrop Earrings, $70 (was $200) at Macy’s

Courtesy of Macy’s

Shop at Macy’s

Why do shoppers love it?

Although drop earrings hang off the lobe in a way that studs don’t, they aren’t typically as large or hang as far down as a hoop or statement earring. This specific style has a drop length of approximately 1-inch, with the thin, silver posts hooking through the ear with the leverback closure, and the teardrop charms hanging right at the bottom.

Although there is a dangling charm at the end of the earring, there isn’t a ton of movement with the style itself, which makes them great for people who hate a heavy earring that moves when you do. 

The charm itself, attached to the earring through a small hook, is made with sterling silver and diamonds and arranged in a teardrop shape with a scalloped edge running around the entire length. The diamonds are arranged in a cluster halo, totaling ¼ carats, with a color rating of I-J and a clarity rating of I3. This means that the round stones have a near-colorless or faint yellow tint, with heavy inclusions or imperfections visible to the naked eye. That said, although inclusions have a negative reputation, they don’t automatically make the earring look bad. Because the stones are so small, they aren’t as visible to people and you’ll still get a remarkable shine from them when exposed to light.

Related: Macy’s is selling a $250 diamond bolo bracelet that comes in 3 colors for 65% off

Surrounding the diamonds is a sterling silver setting, which is also what the earring post and back is made out of. Typically made of 92.5% pure silver and then mixed with a stronger metal like copper, the material has a classic, stylish look and is relatively safe for even the most sensitive skin. And with that small addition of other stronger metals, you get a super durable piece of jewelry that will last even with everyday wear. 

Details to know

Length: The earrings have approximately a 1-inch drop. 

Material: Diamonds and sterling silver. 

Diamond clarity and color: I-J and I3.

Diamond shape: Round.

Closure: Leverback.  

“Petite and elegantly eye-catching,” these earrings have a beautiful sparkle and the clarity of the diamonds is quite good, according to shoppers. Perfect for semi-formal or formal occasions, the earrings are very lightweight, come true to size, and have a comfortable, secure clasp that makes them great for long periods of wear. “They far exceeded my expectations,” another shopper said. 

Shop more deals 

Macy’s Cultured Freshwater Pearl & Diamond Earrings, $270 (was $900) at Macy’s

Macy’s TruMiracle Diamond Side Halo Stud earrings, $444 (was $1,500) at Macy’s

Macy’s Cushion Stud Earrings, $240 (was $600) at Macy’s

Add a stylish new pair of earrings with your purchase of the Macy’s Diamond Teardrop Earrings and watch how flattering they look accessorized with other pieces from your jewelry collection.

A California rental listing went viral in July 2026 after adding an extra $200 per month to any tenant who works from home.

The furnished 535-square-foot accessory dwelling unit in Walnut Creek was advertised at $3,250 per month, with utilities and internet included. Remote workers would be charged $3,450 for the same unit, with no reason given for the surcharge, NBC Palm Springs reported.

Consumer advocate Clark Howard, founder of Clark.com, ClarkDeals.com, and the Consumer Action Center, flagged this listing as part of a much broader pattern that now runs across the entire rental market. 

Property managers advertise a low base rent on listing sites, then reveal the actual monthly cost only after a renter pays application fees.

If you are shopping for a new apartment or rental home, the number on the listing may not be the same as your actual monthly payment.

How landlords bundle mandatory surcharges into your lease

Howard outlined several categories of surcharges that have become standard across apartment complexes and single-family rentals in the current market. 

Mandatory tech bundles force you to pay for internet or cable through a landlord-selected provider, even if you already stream or prefer another carrier.

Trash pickup fees separate garbage collection from the base rent and bill it as a standalone monthly surcharge, sometimes costing $25 or more.

The work-from-home fee is the newest and most contentious entry on this growing list of charges appearing in leases nationwide.

Howard argued that a standard lease grants 24-hour access for the full term, and charging more for daytime use inverts the basic concept of renting.

The Federal Trade Commission targets deceptive rental pricing

If your lease includes charges like these, federal regulators have taken notice and responded with enforcement actions against major corporate landlords.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Colorado sued Greystar Real Estate Partners in January 2025 for advertising rents that excluded mandatory monthly fees. 

Greystar, the nation’s largest multi-family rental property manager, agreed to pay $23 million to the FTC and $1 million to Colorado to settle the case in December 2025, the FTC announced.

More on Housing:

Homebuyers lose ground as housing affordability slams shut

Skyrocketing housing costs put huge strain on homeowners and renters

Landlords sound alarm as rental fraud costs renters big

Undisclosed fees imposed by Greystar cost its tenants hundreds of millions of dollars since at least 2019, the complaint in the case alleged.

Many renters did not discover the charges until after signing, a pattern you could face at any complex that buries fees inside lengthy lease documents.

“Greystar misled consumers by advertising low rent prices and then adding mandatory fees at the end of the sales process,” said Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. 

“At a time when Americans are struggling to find affordable housing, the FTC is focused on monitoring the housing marketplace to ensure that competitors are meaningfully competing on price and that consumers receive transparent pricing,” he added

Invitation Homes, the country’s largest single-family rental landlord, agreed to pay $48 million in September 2024 to settle similar FTC claims that it charged undisclosed junk fees, deceived renters about lease costs, and unfairly withheld security deposits, according to the FTC release. 

The FTC began mailing $47.2 million in refund checks to 444,131 eligible renters in March 2026.

Hidden rental fees are drawing federal scrutiny as the FTC targets landlords accused of misleading renters about the true cost of housing.andresr / Getty Images

Hidden fees inflate monthly costs by up to 30%

Even if your landlord is not a national brand, the financial impact of these surcharges on your monthly budget extends beyond a few dollars.

Nonrent fees added 10% to 30% to tenants’ total monthly costs across a small sample of ledgers from three large housing providers in Denver, an Urban Institute analysis with the Community Economic Defense Project found in a 2025 study.

April Kuehnhoff, senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center, said in an email to The Philadelphia Citizen that undisclosed rental fees undermine tenants’ ability to budget and can directly lead to housing instability.

Junk fees hide the true cost of rental housing, making it tough to compare prices and leading to difficulty paying for undisclosed housing costs. Ultimately, families might have to move due to deceptive pricing or even face eviction when they fall behind on the rent due to accumulating junk fees

Tenants who fell behind on payments faced further penalties of 5% to 10% of base rent stacked on top of existing surcharges, the Urban Institute report found. 

The FTC published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking on March 13, 2026, opening a public comment period through April 13, 2026 on whether to extend fee disclosure requirements to long-term rental housing nationwide, part of a broader federal push on affordable housing.

The existing federal junk fee rule, which took effect in May 2025, covers only live-event ticketing and short-term lodging, not rental housing.

How to compare rental properties on total monthly cost

Howard recommended requesting a complete, itemized fee schedule from the leasing office before paying a nonrefundable application fee or emotionally committing to any property. 

He also added that the schedule needs to cover every mandatory and optional charge beyond your base rent, from technology packages to parking. Comparing your options based on total monthly cost rather than the listing headline is the clearest way to avoid surprises after signing.

A unit advertised at $1,500 with $300 in mandatory fees costs more each month than a competing listing at $1,650 with no additional charges.

The FTC’s rulemaking process could eventually force landlords to show all-in pricing at the listing level, but no final rule exists yet. Whether federal regulation catches up to these practices before your next lease renewal remains the question for every renter to weigh.

Related: Clark Howard pokes holes in popular retirement tools

Enterprise software companies built their businesses around one assumption that went unquestioned for decades. People are the users. Employees log in, click through interfaces, update records and move between applications. The software earns its seat license because a human being sits in front of it.

That assumption is starting to crack. AI agents are becoming capable of retrieving information, making decisions and executing workflows on behalf of employees. The question circulating across enterprise software boardrooms is what happens to the business model when the human in the browser tab is no longer the primary user.

Why AI agents could make enterprise platforms more important

Salesforce is already confronting this. In April, the company launched Headless 360 at its TrailblazerDX conference. The architecture exposes every Salesforce capability as an API, MCP tool, or CLI command so that AI agents can access data, workflows, and business logic without opening a browser.

Co-founder Parker Harris framed it directly: “Why should you ever log into Salesforce again?”

That question points at something counterintuitive. The screens may matter less. The systems underneath may matter more.

An enterprise CRM or IT service management platform holds years of accumulated business rules, permissions, workflows, and records. That is exactly what an AI agent needs before it can act. The interface depreciates. The infrastructure underneath it appreciates.

More AI:

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OpenAI just disclosed something genuinely alarming

“The platforms and systems of record are not losing value here,” Yoav Kolodner, CEO of Tribal and a former VP of engineering at Salesforce, told TheStreet.

“If anything, they matter more, because what an agent actually needs is the object model, the business logic that took fifteen years of edge cases to accumulate, the permission model, the audit trail. None of that is easy to rebuild, and all of it is exactly what an agent consumes.”

Tribal is an enterprise AI platform that maps the metadata and dependencies inside systems of record. It lets AI agents operate within existing permissions and governance frameworks.

The readiness problem Kolodner describes is real. An agent that sees three fields called Status, Status_c, and Stage_Old_c will act on whichever one it finds first.

A human admin knows which one is live, but an agent does not.

How AI agents are disrupting enterprise software pricing

The more immediate problem for public enterprise software companies is what happens to revenue. The industry has run on seat-based pricing for years. More employees using a platform means more licenses.

But if AI agents take over tasks that previously required several employees, the relationship between usage and license count gets harder to justify.

ServiceNow has been shifting toward non-seat pricing arrangements, with more than half of its new business coming from consumption and outcome-based deals. That direction is right. The hard part is defining what an outcome actually is.

Much of what vendors currently call consumption pricing is closer to activity billing. Customers are charged per action or per AI credit. That measures how much compute the vendor spent, not how much value the customer received.

A badly built agent that retries five times shows up on the invoice, and the customer pays for the inefficiency.

The vendors who come through this transition will be the ones who tie price to something the customer already tracks. Tickets resolved. Cases closed. Days off a billing cycle, according to Salesforce Ben.

Much of what vendors currently call consumption pricing is closer to activity billing.Kan/Getty Images

Where the next enterprise software layer is being built

The shift is creating room for companies that sit between AI agents and the existing software stack. Most large companies will not replace their core systems because a new AI capability becomes available. The switching cost is too high. The customization runs too deep.

That creates a market for infrastructure that helps agents understand and operate across existing enterprise environments. The company builds its platform around a customer-specific map of what data exists, what actions are available, and who is allowed to do what.

Almost no real business process lives in a single application. A sales transaction spans CRM and ERP. An IT incident touches service management, customer records, and HR systems.

AI agents can read across those environments. Acting across them is harder. Permissions and governance rarely align at the seams between platforms.

Why enterprise disruption starts at small businesses first

For investors in established enterprise software, the key question is how fast this transition moves. The AI agent discourse suggests a near-term overhaul. The actual timeline is more complicated.

“My honest view is that in the long run the underlying platforms do get disrupted. If agents become the primary way work gets done, a lot of what a system of record charges for today starts looking like a database with very expensive UI on top,” Kolodner added.

“But that’s a much slower story than the current discourse suggests. Large enterprises don’t switch systems of record on a capability argument. They switch on trust, and trust in this category is going to take years to earn.”

The disruption starts where switching costs are lowest. Small and mid-size businesses have less customization and fewer compliance requirements. Some are already running operations on a thin agent layer with minimal legacy infrastructure.

Enterprise adoption follows once that model is proven. Kolodner puts the full picture five to 10 years out.

For enterprise software investors, the near-term risk is pricing pressure as vendors renegotiate seat-based contracts. The longer-term question is whether companies that built their moats around powerful interfaces can hold that moat when the interface is no longer the point.

Related: Salesforce CEO delivers blunt message on AI agents

Cathie Wood, head of Ark Investment Management, often makes moves in her favorite tech stocks around earnings season.

This time, she’s buying Nvidia (NVDA), adding $22.3 million worth of shares just days before the chipmaker’s quarterly earnings report.

Last year, the flagship Ark Innovation ETF gained 35.49%, far outpacing the S&P 500’s return of 17.88% in the same period. But so far this year, Wood’s flagship Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK) is up 1.64% as of August 19, while the S&P 500 surged 12.36%, Yahoo Finance data shows.

Wood gained a reputation after the Ark Innovation ETF delivered a 153% return in 2020. But her style also brings painful losses in bearish markets, as seen in 2022, when the Ark Innovation ETF tumbled more than 60%.

Those swings have weighed on Wood’s long-term gains. As of August 18, her Ark Innovation ETF has delivered a five-year annualized return of -7.18%, while the S&P 500 has an annualized return of 11.82% over the same period, according to data from Morningstar.

Over the past 12 months through August 13, the Ark Innovation ETF saw roughly $2.8 billion in net outflows.Bloomberg / Getty Images

Cathie Wood says AI could help sustain high corporate profits

Wood usually focuses on high-tech companies across artificial intelligence, blockchain, biomedical technology, and robotics. She believes these businesses have strong growth potential, though their volatility often causes fluctuations in the Ark’s funds.

Over the decade ended 2025, the Ark Innovation ETF wiped out nearly $5 billion in investor wealth, according to an analysis by Morningstar’s analyst Amy Arnott. That made it the fourth-biggest wealth destroyer among mutual funds and ETFs in the ranking. 

Wood remains optimistic about AI, which she sees as a major driver of productivity, economic growth, and corporate profits in the years ahead.

In a recent post on X, Wood said U.S. corporate profits remain unusually strong, with domestic profits before tax at 13.2% of GDP, a level she said is near multi-decade highs. 

Related: Cathie Wood sells $11.6 million of surging tech stock

Some of that strength came from the massive monetary and fiscal stimulus during the pandemic, but Wood believes another factor is helping sustain margins today: companies are leaning into AI and productivity gains to protect them.

“I think we’re still early in seeing how far that can go,” she said, adding that companies that use AI effectively will “separate themselves from the ones that don’t.”

Wood also found reasons for optimism in the latest U.S. jobs report, despite nonfarm payrolls falling by 23,000.

“It’s not as scary as it looks,” she said, pointing to higher prime age labor force participation, cooling wages and productivity growth approaching 3%. She also suggested AI may be helping accelerate baby boomer retirements.

Not all investors agree with Wood’s optimism. Over the past 12 months through August 13, the Ark Innovation ETF saw roughly $2.8 billion in net outflows, according to data from ETF research firm VettaFi. 

Cathie Wood buys $22.3 million of Nvidia stock

On August 17, Wood’s Ark funds bought a total of 101,356 shares of Nvidia (NVDA), according to Ark’s daily trading information. Based on the latest closing price of $219.74, these stocks were worth about $22.3 million. 

Shares of Nvidia have gained more than 9% so far in August. Year to date, the stock is up 17.8%, outperforming the S&P 500 but trailing chipmaking peer AMD, which has surged 126.2%, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, which has rallied 67.3% over the same period.

The weakness reflects investors’ growing concerns about whether Nvidia can sustain its rapid growth. Some hyperscale cloud providers are developing their own custom AI chips, while Wall Street questions whether hundreds of billions of dollars in AI infrastructure spending will ultimately generate returns.

Wood’s move came ahead of Nvidia’s fiscal second-quarter earnings report, which is scheduled for August 26.

Related: Cathie Wood buys $16.2 million of popular semiconductor stock

Three months ago, Nvidia reported results that continued to support its growth thesis.

For the fiscal first quarter ended April 26, Nvidia reported non-GAAP earnings of $1.87 per share, beating Wall Street’s estimates of $1.76. Revenue came at $81.6 billion, up 85% from a year earlier. It also reported record Data Center revenue of $75.2 billion, up 92% year over year.

“The buildout of AI factories — the largest infrastructure expansion in human history — is accelerating at extraordinary speed,” said Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in a statement. “Nvidia is uniquely positioned at the center of this transformation as the only platform that runs in every cloud, powers every frontier and open source model, and scales everywhere AI is produced.”

Nvidia investors are watching Big Tech’s AI spending because Microsoft, Meta and Alphabet are among its biggest buyers. Their latest capex plans, however, are challenging expectations for another broad surge in spending.

Also read: Bank of America doubles down on Nvidia stock despite big risk

In their Q2 earnings, Microsoft kept its fiscal 2026 outlook unchanged, Meta raised only the low end of its forecast, while Alphabet increased its guidance to $195 billion-$205 billion from $180 billion-$190 billion, but later saw its stock fall.

Nvidia’s first-quarter fiscal 2027 results also highlighted some underlying risks. Of its $58 billion in net income, $13.4 billion came from unrealized equity gains rather than operations, according to a report.

The chip maker also remains heavily dependent on a small group of big customers, with three hyperscalers accounting for 54% of revenue. 

Still, many analysts remain bullish on Nvidia stock. Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya said in a recent research note that he sees a “compelling” valuation for Nvidia at current share levels. 

The analyst said Nvidia shares are trading at a 34%-50% free cash flow discount, even when accounting for financing risks.

Arya also cautioned that Nvidia could face pressure if AI demand slows. He expects the company to provide more details when it reports earnings later this month.

“If AI demand slows, both NVDA’s growth rate and balance sheet could come under pressure. The debate is how to reflect this reward-versus-risk in Nvidia’s valuation,” the analyst said.

Nvidia is currently not in the top 10 holdings in the Ark Innovation ETF. 

Top 10 Holdings in the Ark Innovation ETF as of August 18, 2026:

Tesla (TSLA) — 9.28% | $587.87 million

SpaceX (SPCX) — 6.28% | $397.87 million

Tempus AI (TEM) — 5.03% | $318.59 million

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Moderating inflation data is good news for budgets, but it may be less favorable for Social Security beneficiaries expecting a raise next year, according to new analyst estimates. Retirees and other recipients could get a lower cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, in 2027 after government data released Wednesday showed that lower energy costs were contributing to a slower rate of price increases.
Estimates for the Social Security 2027 COLA have fallen in tandem with inflation figures. The Senior Citizens League (TSCL), a nonprofit advocacy group, now predicts that next year’s COLA will be 3.6%. While lower than the 3.8% COLA projection it published for the last two consecutive months, a 3.6% hike in benefits would be the highest in four years. It’s also nearly a full percentage point higher than this year’s 2.8% COLA.

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TSCL calculated that the average beneficiary’s monthly payment would rise by nearly $70, from $1,937.53 to $2,007.28, if its current projection of a 3.6% COLA was implemented today.
A separate estimate from Mary Johnson, an independent Social Security and Medicare policy analyst, also showed a dip. Johnson’s 2027 COLA projection is currently 3.4%, down incrementally from 3.7% a month ago, and sharply lower than the 4.7% estimate she projected just two months ago.
Analysts recalculate their estimates for the upcoming Social Security COLA increase every month when the government releases new consumer price index (CPI) data, but July’s inflation metrics matter more than most because they go into the calculation for the next year’s adjustment.

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Why 2027 COLA projections dropped
The Bureau of Labor Statistics just released inflation data for July showing a small drop in the annual inflation rate. The headline CPI came in with an 0.1% increase for the month, or 3.4% for the year ending in July, down slightly from its 3.5% June reading. Even with this modest improvement, though, inflation is still well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.
“It’s doubtful that anyone is celebrating because 3.4% is still higher than the average,” Johnson said in a statement Wednesday. “We are in a brave new world of breathtakingly high prices and costs,” she observed.
The annual COLA is intended to help Social Security’s roughly 75 million recipients by protecting the purchasing power of their benefits, which can be eroded by climbing prices. While people and businesses generally welcome lower inflation, it can be disadvantageous for Social Security beneficiaries because of how it is calculated.
The SSA is scheduled to announce the 2027 COLA on Oct. 14. The agency determines the amount of the annual adjustment by taking monthly inflation figures from the third quarter of the year — that is, July, August and September — and averaging them.
While the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, or CPI-U, is the inflation data Americans tend to be most familiar with, the SSA uses a slightly different data set to calculate the COLA: the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, or CPI-W.
Some advocates argue that this data set, which tracks the expenses of younger, employed Americans, doesn’t reflect the financial burdens of retirees, who comprise about three-quarters of Social Security’s roughly 75 million beneficiaries. The burden of high healthcare costs, in particular, is disproportionately borne by older Americans, they say.
Why volatile inflation makes forecasting harder
Predicting next year’s COLA, which helps retirees and other beneficiaries budget for the coming year, is more difficult when inflation bounces around a lot, as it has done this year, according to Shannon Benton, TSCL’s executive director.
“One of the biggest wild cards in this year’s forecast has been inflation’s volatility,” she said in a statement. Headline inflation has ranged between 2.2% and 4.4% this year. For figures that typically move by a fraction of a percentage point, that’s a significant difference. It’s especially bad news for the more than 1 in 5 Americans who receive Social Security if inflation dips during that third-quarter period the agency uses as its benchmark for calculating COLA, then rises again.
In the past few years alone, whipsawing inflation has made for big fluctuations in the annual COLA, ranging from a 2.5% adjustment last year to a recent peak of 8.7% in 2023 — the highest COLA in more than four decades.
Benton highlights volatile energy prices as a primary contributor to recently unstable inflation. “As of August 6th, oil prices currently sit approximately 24 percent higher than this time last year,” she wrote, adding, “Fuel prices have downstream effects on inflation because they raise prices for producing and transporting goods, costs that get passed onto consumers.”