Main Facts The American banking landscape is undergoing a profound structural contraction, driven not by a wave of systemic collapses or a sudden surge in bank mergers, but by a near-total drought in new market entrants. Before the financial crisis of 2008, new banks—known in regulatory parlance as de novo institutions—routinely entered the United States…
By PYMNTS | September 18, 2026 Main Facts While many corporate enterprises struggle to quantify the precise return on investment delivered by their artificial intelligence initiatives, online pet products retailer Chewy has bucked the trend with concrete figures. During the company’s second-quarter earnings call, Chief Executive Officer Sumit Singh announced that Chewy expects artificial intelligence…
By PYMNTS September 18, 2026 Main Facts Yahoo Finance has officially ended its high-profile data-sharing partnership with decentralized prediction market platform Polymarket, concluding an arrangement that brought real-time probability data to millions of retail investors and financial analysts. The collaboration, which originally kicked off in late 2025, integrated Polymarket’s crowd-sourced forecasting metrics directly into a…
By PYMNTS | September 18, 2026 In a decisive move to address what he termed a vacuum in national technology policy, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a sweeping executive order on Friday, September 18, 2026. The directive immediately convenes a panel of national artificial intelligence (AI) experts tasked with designing an aggressive framework to reinforce…
By: PYMNTS Published: September 19, 2026 Main Facts: The Battle for the Holiday Wallet Moves to October Forget carving pumpkins or finalizing your Halloween costume; the retail giants of the United States have officially decided that the holiday shopping season begins long before the leaves even change color. In a synchronized shift that compresses the…
In the digital age, the promise of supplemental income has never felt more ubiquitous. From viral TikTok videos boasting about passive income streams to anonymous forum threads detailing desperate financial pivots, the modern gig economy is a landscape of high hopes and stark realities. Recently, a post on Reddit’s popular r/sidehustle forum caught the internet’s…
By Global Tech & Markets Desk September 18, 2026 Artificial intelligence powerhouse Anthropic is reportedly setting the stage for a historic stock market debut, targeting a November initial public offering (IPO) that could value the company at an eye-watering $2 trillion. According to reports from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times citing…
For millions of prospective home buyers caught in the relentless undertow of today’s housing affordability crisis, the upfront cash required at closing remains the ultimate barrier to entry. Between sky-high property values, persistent inflation, and elevated mortgage rates, scraping together a five- or six-figure sum for a down payment and closing costs can push the…
By Financial Markets News Desk Published: September 18, 2026 Main Facts: The Proposed Launch of Avant Bank, N.A. In a landmark strategic pivot signaling the ongoing maturation of the financial technology sector, digital lending and credit pioneer Avant formally announced on Friday, September 18, 2026, that it has submitted regulatory applications to establish a new…
For most travelers, a family cruise is an exercise in budgeting, coordinating schedules, and managing the inevitable stress of wrangling a large group. For frequent flyer enthusiasts and elite travel hackers, however, a massive group voyage represents something far more lucrative: a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to trigger a seismic accumulation of loyalty points. By leveraging specialized…
