Expect a bigger tax refund this year
Marketplace All-in-One
Marketplace
4.5 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 17 March 2026
⏱️ 6 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
If you are one of the millions of people who haven't done your taxes yet, you've got a month and a day left to file. Something to look forward to, though? Refunds are up over 10% on average so far this year, and more people are receiving tax refunds. But first, we'll check in on how discount retailers are doing and learn how the war in the Middle East is impacting Federal Reserve officials' thinking about a rate cut.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Which way to steer this economy is being decided now? |
| 0:06.7 | From Marketplace, I'm Sabri Beneshore in for David Brancaccio. |
| 0:09.9 | The Federal Reserve starts a two-day meeting on interest rates today. |
| 0:14.0 | It can cut them to help the labor market, can raise them to fight inflation, or just keep them where they are, wait and see. The war in the Middle East |
| 0:22.6 | is making that decision a whole lot more complicated. Marketplaces Nancy Marshall-Genser |
| 0:27.0 | reports. The Federal Reserve has two jobs, keep inflation in check and get as many people |
| 0:32.4 | working as possible. It's been tough to balance this dual mandate because even before the war, inflation was stuck |
| 0:39.1 | above the Fed's 2% target, while hiring is weak, with the economy losing 92,000 jobs in February. |
| 0:46.3 | The Fed is swimming in a cross-current. |
| 0:48.4 | If it cuts interest rates to support the labor market, it risks nudging inflation even higher. |
| 0:53.6 | And if the war drags on, rising energy prices |
| 0:56.3 | will ripple through the economy. So Fed officials are expected to leave interest rates unchanged at this |
| 1:02.1 | meeting because of the uncertainty of war. In a research note, EY chief economist Gregory Daco |
| 1:07.7 | says, quote, it is entirely plausible that the Fed won't deliver any rate |
| 1:12.0 | cuts this year. I'm Nancy Marshall Genser for Marketplace. |
| 1:16.6 | Dollar Tree Discount Stores reported earnings yesterday, and they included a recap of 2025. |
| 1:23.4 | They did pretty well. Sales rose 5.3% over the year. |
| 1:26.7 | 2026, though, is not looking as good. |
| 1:30.5 | The company predicted sales growth would slow down to just three or four percent. |
| 1:34.6 | Similar story for Ross stores, which reported earlier this month. |
| 1:37.6 | Strong 2025, looking weaker in 2026. |
| 1:40.9 | Marketplace's Stephanie Hughes looks at what's working in favor of discounters right now, |
... |
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