Aisha Williams A Stanford, MIT and University of Chicago working paper finds SNAP sugary drink restrictions cut those purchases by 12.4 percent in the first half of 2026. Researchers found no own-cash substitution, but up to 39 percent of redirected spending moved into juices and energy drinks where those stayed eligible.
Signals point to retail media and marketplace fees, not product markup, driving gross margin expansion at large US retailers over the 2026 holiday quarter. The prediction is testable in results published between late February and mid-March 2027.
The FTC and 22 state attorneys general sued Amazon on August 31, 2026, alleging a hidden “soft reserve price” surcharge turned its second-price ad auctions into first-price ones since 2019. The complaint says the scheme extracted tens of billions of dollars from more than one million brands and sellers.
CBP has postponed CAPE Phase 3, the tranche covering roughly $11.4 billion of IEEPA tariff refunds on finally liquidated entries, with no new launch date. About 64% of the $166 billion pool has been certified, leaving $59.4 billion outstanding and a legal split between importers who sued and those who did not.
Signals point to US merchants being offered fewer stablecoin options, not more, by mid-2027, as Treasury’s 18 August perimeter rule turns token choice into a compliance decision. The likely shape is a short US permitted list plus a separate non-US corridor menu.
The website, store and store view hierarchy is the decision you cannot easily undo later, so it deserves an afternoon of thought.
Dollar Tree reports second quarter results before the open on August 27, with consensus at $4.85bn in sales and $1.11 adjusted EPS. The flat 34.4% gross margin line, not the 44% EPS growth headline, is where the tariff math shows.
Abercrombie & Fitch reports second quarter fiscal 2026 results on August 26 before the bell, with consensus at about $1.24bn in sales and $1.90 in earnings per share. Guidance already carries roughly $20m of tariff cost, while a $100m refund claim sits outside the outlook.
The most common opening day failure in a pop-up is not footfall. It is a card reader that cannot reach the internet.
Walmart begins accepting Apple Pay and Google Pay at select US stores and Sam’s Club locations on August 24, 2026, with every store and club due to follow by year-end. The switch ends a holdout that began when Walmart backed the failed CurrentC wallet against Apple in 2014.