Air travelers faced more flight delays and cancellations on Tuesday and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned if the record-long government shutdown doesn't end soon, "we're not going to get to Thanksgiving."
The big picture: The Senate passed a bill Monday to reopen government and Duffy urged the House to follow suit as a Federal Aviation Administration mandate forced airlines to cut 6% of flights at 40 major airports on Tuesday. That number is set to hit 10% on Friday.
President Trump on Tuesday claimed the U.S. would be on the hook for $3 trillion in refunds and lost investments if the administration loses the pending tariffs case at the Supreme Court.
Why it matters: Trump is trying to ramp up the pressure on the court to preserve the centerpiece of his economic policy.
Businesses are saluting veterans and active-duty military personnel this Veterans Day with free meals, drinks and discounts.
The big picture: The federal holiday honors those who have served in the military — past and present — by showing appreciation for what they have sacrificed.
Why it matters: The Minneapolis-based retailer is fighting to hold onto price-sensitive consumers as Walmart, Aldi and discount chains win share during the growing affordability crisis.
President Trump's first 296 days of his second term, while precedent-shattering, are producing a lot more one-off, giveth-or-taketh-away deals than actual new U.S. laws.
Why it matters: It's the Santa and Grinch presidency, in which almost every day reveals a new promise to give something of financial value to a nation, group or individual — or take it away. But rarely do these transactions cement new laws.
This reality reflects Trump's improvisational and dealmaking impulses. But it also means that a lot of what he does will be easily reversible.
The last few days show the pattern: Trump, increasingly vocal about affordability after the Democratic romp in Tuesday's elections, called for two actions — tariff rebate checks and 50-year mortgages.
Both were in-the-moment ideas, tossed out by the president on social media, that don't require new laws.
Zoom in: On Truth Social on Saturday afternoon, Trump floated the idea of a 50-year mortgage to improve housing affordability. Bill Pulte, the powerful director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), then tweeted: "Thanks to President Trump, we are indeed working on The 50 year Mortgage — a complete game changer." Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) argued on X that the idea would "ultimately reward the banks, mortgage lenders and home builders while people pay far more in interest over time."
Then on Truth Social on Sunday morning, Trump said: "A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone." (An idea he's floated on and off since July, without any concrete plans.)
In a real-time reflection of Trump improv, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told George Stephanopoulos shortly thereafter on "This Week": "I haven't spoken to the president about this yet ... [T]he $2,000 dividend could come in lots of forms ... [I]t could be just the tax decreases that we are seeing on the president's agenda." (Trump later clarified that it would, in fact, be a direct payment to people.)
Herein lies the downside to Trump's approach: Anything not codified by law can be easily undone by the courts — or by Democrats when they win back the White House.
The intrigue: These measures can also be undone by Trump himself, if the winds shift the right way. Auto companies, for instance, now get a partial refund for the tariffs that Trump imposed on the industry.
Another case in point: Trump has pushed for lower prescription drug prices — not by seeking legislation, but by directly pressuring pharmaceutical companies, including last week's Oval Office announcement that they'll reduce the price of GLP-1 weight loss drugs.
He has attacked health insurance companies in recent days and over the weekend called for Americans to receive cash directly with which to buy health insurance.
But he hasn't engaged in negotiations with congressional Democrats over extending Affordable Care Act subsidies that currently help millions afford insurance — the core of the shutdown fight.
The bottom line: Almost all of Trump's astonishing expansions of precedent-stretching presidential power flow not from law, or even congressional approval. It's just Trump doing what he wants ... to whoever he wants ... when he wants.
Axios' Tal Axelrod, Ben Berkowitz, Courtenay Brown and Neil Irwin contributed reporting.
Correction: This version removes an outdated GovTrack tally that was from Trump's first term, not this term.
Google AI tool Gemini and ChatGPTwere the two fastest-growing brands in 2025 among those earning more than $100,000 a year, a new report from Morning Consult finds.
Why it matters: AI brands didn't even make it into the top 20 for lower-earning households — a sign of a growing gap between the rich and everyone else in this economy.
For those earning less than six figures, brands that ranked higher were more "value-focused," like Fruit of the Loom and Discount Tire.
President Trump criticized the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program known as SNAP in an interview with Fox News' Laura Ingraham Monday night.
Why it matters: SNAP, a decades old anti-poverty program, is in the spotlight as the White House fights in court to avoid paying full benefits during the government shutdown.
Soaring beef prices took a bite out of Tyson Foods in its most recent quarter, but penny-pinching consumers flocked to chicken, offsetting red ink from red meat.
Why it matters: The meatpacking industry is taking heat from President Trump over the surging price of beef, which experts attribute to a record global shortage of cattle.
Investors are rejoicing over what they see as an end to the government shutdown nearing — yet the positive vibes probably won't last for long.
Why it matters: A reopening would ease one pocket of worry for Wall Street, but swing attention to the others, like sky-high valuations and signs of an AI bubble.
Investors will also have to make sense soon of newly resumed government data, coming late at first and in some cases maybe not at all. (Just don't hold your breath for October CPI.)
President Trump on Sunday once again pitched the idea of sending $2,000 dividends to most Americans from tariff revenue.
The big picture: It's not clear who'd actually receive the money, but economists expect a tariff dividend could cost hundreds of billions of dollars, potentially more than the government actually collects in a year.
Why it matters: Investors monitor Buffett's annual letter religiously for insight into the market, and this will be the one of the last opportunities to do that as "Oracle of Omaha" prepares to retire.
The Trump administration has an idea to make buying a house more affordable — using the government's control over the mortgage finance system to offer home loans that can be paid off over a much longer time.
The big picture: The arithmetic of loan amortization, however, means that buyers taking out a 50-year mortgage would lose a key advantage of the more traditional loan product, while not saving that much month-to-month.
The economic data tap might soon reopen if Congress is successful in passing a funding deal.
Why it matters: Among the disruptions from the longest government shutdown on record — an interruption in the flow of indicators, including two monthly jobs reports, third-quarter GDP, the Consumer Price Index and more.
President Trump on Monday threatened to dock pay for air traffic controllers missing work during the government shutdown.
Why it matters: The air traffic control system, already strained before the government shutdown, faces more pressure as the record-breaking funding lapse continues.
Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson gave the Trump administration a 4pm ET Monday deadline to respond to an appeals court decision requiring that SNAP payments be issued in full.
The big picture: The 1st U.S Circuit Court of Appeals allowed an order requiring full SNAP benefits just a day after the Trump administration ordered states to "immediately undo" payments that had been processed.
Amazon is stretching Black Friday and Cyber Monday into nearly two weeks of sales — starting Nov. 20 and running through Dec. 1 — promising "millions of deals" across categories.
Gen Z is not buying the dip, while boomers are, per the latest Charles Schwab STAX index, which analyzes the trading activity of millions of customers.
Why it matters: There is a generational divide in dip buying, as younger investors appear to be skittish as their riskier investments start to fade.
More U.S. homebuying contracts are being canceled, according to a Redfin report.
The big picture: Homebuyers are backing out of deals at "a fairly high rate" as their negotiating power grows and economic uncertainty mounts, among other reasons.
California is home to the most expensive cheeseburger meals in the continental U.S., per new DoorDash data shared exclusively with Axios.
Why it matters: Looking at the price of a single expense — in this case, a cheeseburger with fries and a soda — across cities is a simple way of comparing the cost of living.
The deal reached in the Senate Sunday would reverse the mass firings initiated during the government shutdown — and guarantee backpay for furloughed government workers.
Why it matters: The provisions stymie the Trump White House effort to slash the federal workforce in the shutdown.
