AM Business Notebook or: January 26, 2026
>>Ahead Of The Bell
(New York, NY) -- The opening bell rings this morning after stocks closed mixed on Friday to end a volatile week. At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 285 points to 49-098. The S&P 500 rose two points to 69-15. The Nasdaq gained 65 points to 23-501.
>>IRS Accepting Tax Returns Starting Today
(Washington, DC) -- Tax season is here. The IRS starts accepting tax returns today. Federal returns for 2025 will need to be filed by April 15th in order to avoid penalties and interest. Most taxpayers will also be expected to pay their taxes by that date.
>>MN CEOS Call For 'Immediate Deescalation'
(Minneapolis, MN) -- Minnesota business leaders are calling for an "immediate deescalation of tensions" after federal agents fatally shot another U.S. citizen in Minneapolis. Over 60 CEOs of Minnesota-based companies signed a letter urging "state, local and federal officials to work together to find real solutions." Signatures on the letter released by the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce include incoming Target CEO Michael Fiddelke [[ FID-uhl-kee ]], the chairman and CEO of 3M, the chair and CEO of Cargill and the CEO of UnitedHealth. Other signatories include the Minnesota Vikings, Mayo Clinic, General Mills, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, Hormel, Medtronic, U.S. Bancorp and Xcel Energy. Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse and U.S. citizen, was shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday.
>>Fed To Announce First Interest Rate Decision Of 2026 This Week
(Undated) -- Coming up in the business week ahead, the Fed is set to announce its first interest rate decision of the year. That happens Wednesday at the conclusion of a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. It's expected that the central bank will leave interest rates unchanged for the time being, with the next meeting coming mid-March.
>>Survey Finds Worker Pay Not Keeping Up With Cost Of Living
(Undated) -- A survey has found that American workers have one big complaint about their jobs. The survey from USA Today and SurveyMonkey found that even with cost-of-living adjustments and pay raises four in ten workers say their income is not keeping up with their expenses. Only one in five workers say their pay increased more than inflation over the past year. Over half of workers have less than three months living expenses saved in the case of a layoff. Nearly a third only have enough to last one month.
>>Sign Of Progress In NYC Nurses Strike
(New York, NY) -- There is a sign of progress in potentially ending the two-week long nurses strike in New York City. The nurses' union says they have reached a deal on maintaining health benefits at two of the three hospitals involved in the strike. Union leaders say that was a key negotiation point, but also say more work needs to be done on other issues and that a final contract needs to be hammered out. Nurses won't be on the picket lines today due to the winter storm, but union leaders say they will be back out there tomorrow if a deal is not reached. Some 15-thousand nurses have been off the job for nearly two full weeks.
>>TikTok Experiences Outage
(Undated) -- TikTok was down for many users Sunday. While most of the issues seem to be cleared up, some users of the video app are still reporting sporadic disruptions and some features not working correctly. The problems come after a deal was finalized last week to transfer majority ownership of the app in the U.S. from Chinese to American in order to avoid a congressionally mandated shutdown.
>>Southwest Assigned Seating Begins This Week
(Dallas, TX) -- Southwest Airlines begins assigned seating on Tuesday. The Dallas-based carrier announced last summer that it was ending its decades-long open seating policy. The airline also announced seating options that include extra legroom and preferred seats and a new group-based boarding process.
