If your tax return hits a snag this year, getting help from the IRS could take longer — and more complex refunds could be slow to arrive too.
Why it matters: A Treasury watchdog report warns the Internal Revenue Service entered the 2026 filing season short-staffed and overwhelmed, increasing the risk of delays and service problems for millions of taxpayers.
Bitcoin plummeted below $64,000 on Thursday, down over 13% on the day as a weeklong selloff accelerated.
Why it matters: The plunge is testing both Wall Street's newfound confidence in crypto and the resolve of new retail investors who bought in near the top.
Workers at Volkswagen's Chattanooga, Tennessee, factory won 20% raises and lower health care costs in their first UAW contract after nearly two years of bargaining.
Why it matters: The agreement is being billed as a historic breakthrough in the UAW's decades-long effort to unionize foreign-owned auto plants in the South.
Coca-Cola is discontinuing Minute Maid's frozen juice concentrates in the U.S. and Canada, ending an 80-year run that turned a freezer-aisle cylinder into an American breakfast ritual.
Why it matters: It's not just the end of a mid-century grocery icon — the move could hit lower-income households hardest, as frozen concentrate has long been one of the most affordable ways to buy juice.
As tech stocks are getting hammered, Wall Street is bidding up real-world, real-goods companies, so-called consumer staples that are likely to stick around even as AI disrupts other industries.
Why it matters: When investors don't understand tech bubbles, they buy soap bubbles instead.
SPAC investors this week made a big bet on the MAGA economy.
Or at least a big bet that some other investors believe in the MAGA economy.
Driving the news: Colombier Acquisition Corp. III raised $260 million in its IPO, above its $250 million target, and a source tells me that it will end up with around $300 million after underwriters exercised the greenshoe.
President Trump's multi-front push to shore up critical minerals could pay long-term dividends for low-carbon U.S. industries — though it's hardly the intent.
Why it matters: Cleantech industries — like batteries, renewables manufacturing, advanced grid systems and others — need secure access to raw and processed materials.
House Democrats found themselves in the familiar position this week of seething at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) for negotiating a deal with Republicans to keep the government funded.
Why it matters: While his caucus remains behind him, Schumer is becoming persona non grata for much of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.
Avatar technology company Genies has partnered with MLB Players, Inc., the business arm of the Major League Baseball Players Association, to create AI characters of its players, CEO Akash Nigam exclusively tells Axios.
Why it matters: The collaboration redefines how players can connect with fans and how they can monetize their likeness in the AI era.
Dramatic cuts to the Washington Post are being met with outrage as employees and the broader journalism community try to understand how such a storied institution could unravel so quickly.
Why it matters: Continued success at rival papers, including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, suggests the Post's challenges are self-inflicted.
A trio of AI titans is barreling toward watershed IPOs this year, posing the ultimate test of whether their lofty ambitions, breakneck spending and founder feuds can survive life under public scrutiny.
Why it matters: Between OpenAI, Anthropic and Elon Musk's xAI, trillions of dollars in potential value — and enormous influence over the world's most powerful technology — are coming up for judgment in 2026.
This weekend kicks off a historic month for NBCUniversal, which will broadcast the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, the Super Bowl and the NBA All-Star Game, all within a span of 17 days.
Why it matters: "Legendary February," as the network is calling it, will show off the unique staying power of the broadcaster, streamer and news provider.
President Trump discussed AI, immigration, the Fed, and more as he sat down with NBC News' Tom Llamas on Wednesday.
The big picture: NBC released an extended version of his "NBC Nightly News" interview on Wednesday night, ahead of more excerpts airing during the network's Super Bowl LX pre-game show Sunday.
Key Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee appear to be greasing the path for Kevin Warsh to be confirmed as Fed chair by downplaying the criminal investigation into Chairman Jay Powell or calling for it to be resolved.
Why it matters: Warsh's nomination is being held hostage by Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who is demanding that President Trump drop an investigation into Powell before he votes Warsh out of committee.
Elon Musk and State Department officials must sit for depositions over their role in dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
The big picture: The order is a win for the anonymous USAID employees suing over what they say was an unlawful effort by officials of Musk's Department of Government Efficiency to gut the world's largest humanitarian aid organization.
