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SunPower has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and plans to sell its assets.
The rooftop solar installer has faced allegations of misconduct in its reporting practices.
The residential solar sector has been walloped as high interest rates have depressed demand, leaving companies with too much inventory on hand.

Workers install solar panels during a SunPower installation on a home in Napa, California, on July 17, 2023.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The rooftop solar installer SunPower has filed for bankruptcy, after struggling for months in the face of high interest rates and allegations of misconduct in its reporting practices.
SunPower stock dropped nearly 44% Tuesday to close at 45 cents per share. Its shares have collapsed more than 90% this year.

SunPower listed assets and liabilities between $1 billion and $10 billion in its Chapter 11 protection filing late Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Its largest stakeholder is TotalEnergies, according to FactSet.
SunPower is selling its Blue Raven Solar and new homes businesses as well as its non-installing dealer network to Complete Solaria for $45 million subject to court approval, according to a statement late Monday. The company has asked the court to approve the sale by mid-September.
SunPower plans to sell its remaining assets through the bankruptcy process, the company said. Its stock collapsed below $1 in July after the company halted new leases, product shipments and installations.
The residential solar sector has been walloped as high interest rates have depressed demand, leaving companies with too much inventory on hand. But SunPower’s stock has also been under pressure due to allegations of misconduct in its reporting practices.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission subpoenaed SunPower in February for documents over revenue recognition practices in quarterly reports from 2023, according to a filing.

SunPower’s independent accountant Ernst & Young resigned in June because it did not want to be associated with the company’s financial statements, citing allegations that senior members of management were involved in misconduct related to financial statements.
In December, SunPower breached a credit agreement and warned that “substantial doubt” existed about its ability to keep operating.   More

Vice President Kamala Harris has picked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, a choice that could reinforce the Democratic Party’s de facto presidential nominee’s policy focused on middle-class Americans, including the child tax credit.
Described by Walz as a “signature accomplishment,” Minnesota’s new refundable child tax credit was $1,750 per child for 2023 — the most generous in the country for low-income families.
Expanding the federal child tax credit has bipartisan support, but it could be challenging, depending on which party controls Congress.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz in the Governors Reception room in the State Capitol Wednesday, November 30, 2022 St. Paul, Minn.
Star Tribune Via Getty Images | Star Tribune | Getty Images

How Minnesota’s child tax credit stacks up

Described by Walz as a “signature accomplishment,” Minnesota’s refundable child tax credit was $1,750 per child for 2023, which was the biggest in the country for low earners. The credit begins phasing out at $29,500 for single filers or $35,000 for married couples filing together. The complete phaseout depends on the number of children, family income and filing status.
“Minnesota’s new child tax credit is unusual in its narrowness,” said Jared Walczak, vice president of state projects at the Tax Foundation. “But it is the most generous in the nation for low-income households.”
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For 2023, more than 215,000 Minnesota tax returns claimed the credit for over 437,000 eligible children with a total average tax break of $1,244 per child, Walz reported last week.
“This year, we invested directly in the financial security and well-being of families across the state through our nation-leading child tax credit,” he said in a press release.

For tax year 2024, eligible Minnesota families can soon choose to receive 50% of the credit before the tax season via advance payments. A similar policy was enacted for the federal child tax credit in 2021, which reduced the child poverty rate to a historic low of 5.2% that year, according to a Columbia University analysis.

How Walz could shape federal policy

As a key priority for Walz, Minnesota’s child tax credit upgrades were the single biggest line item in his latest supplemental budget. The policy could resurface to support an expanded federal child tax credit on the presidential campaign trail. But enacting federal changes could be more challenging, depending on which party controls Congress, experts say.
“It’s really hard to draw straight lines from any state policymaker to federal policymaking,” said Richard Auxier, a principal policy associate for the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center who focuses on state and local tax policy.
In Minnesota, the child tax credit was enacted via a Democratic-controlled state legislature, along with a significant budget surplus, which is different from the federal climate, he said. 
Still, while Walz enacted state tax breaks like other governors, “he was able to turn the dial up a few extra notches,” Auxier said. “The child tax credit is probably the most obvious example.”
Walz’s office did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment. 

Despite bipartisan support for an expanded federal child tax credit, Senate Republicans blocked the measure earlier this month to defer negotiations.
Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, in a statement described the vote as a “blatant attempt to score political points.” He said Senate Republicans have concerns about the policy, but are willing to negotiate a “child tax credit solution that a majority of Republicans can support.”
If enacted, the bill would have improved access to the child tax credit and retroactively boosted the refundable portion for 2023, which could have triggered refund checks from the IRS.
National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard said in a statement that President Joe Biden and Harris will “continue to fight for an expanded child tax credit.”

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The Biden administration is expected to move to forgive the student debt of tens of millions of borrowers as soon as October.
These are the four groups that may benefit from partial or full debt relief if the plan survives the next round of legal challenges.

President Joe Biden visiting a library in Culver City, California, on Feb. 21, 2024.
Irfan Khan | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

As the Biden administration prepares to forgive the student debt of tens of millions of borrowers — a move experts say could happen as soon as October — it has issued new guidance on who will most likely be eligible for the relief.
That is an important distinction from President Joe Biden’s first effort at sweeping student loan cancellation. With this attempt, the U.S. Department of Education revised its forgiveness plan to be more targeted, with the hope that this aid package survives the inevitable next round of legal challenges.

The Department of Education is still working out the details of the plan, and will notify eligible borrowers soon.
“Once these rules are finalized, 30 million Americans will get to benefit and experience the life-changing impact of student debt cancellation,” said Aissa Canchola Bañez, policy director at the Student Borrower Protection Center.
These are the four groups that stand to benefit from partial or full debt relief if the plan survives the next round of lawsuits.

1. Borrowers who owe more than at start of repayment

Those who hold Direct or other Education Department-held loans and have a current balance greater than when they entered repayment may be able to get up to $20,000 forgiven, according to Department of Education guidance. The amount of relief they will receive will depend, in part, on how much their balance has grown.
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Experts say the Department of Education will likely compare borrowers’ present balance to the total principal and interest they owed when they began paying down their debt, whenever that was.
Single individuals enrolled in income-driven repayment plans who earn less than $120,000 could get the entire amount on their debt that has grown since they entered repayment, both principal and interest, erased. The income cap for married borrowers who file joint taxes is $240,000.

2. Those already eligible for relief

The Department of Education could also forgive the debt of the many borrowers who are eligible for relief but either have not enrolled in the right program or have not applied for the aid yet.
Many student loan borrowers are not aware of the relief options available to them, such as income-driven repayment plans and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, consumer advocates say.

3. People who have been paying for many years

If you have only undergraduate student loans and entered repayment on or before July 1, 2005, you will likely be eligible for the aid.
For those with just graduate loans, or a mix of undergraduate and graduate debt, repayment must have begun on or before July 1, 2000, according to the Department of Education guidance.

Those who have consolidated their loans along the way should not worry that their timeline reset. The Department of Education says it will look into when those underlying loans initially entered repayment.

4. Attendees of troubled schools

In the fall, the Department of Education will also likely try to cancel some or all of the debt of those borrowers who attended schools that lost their eligibility for federal funding, suddenly closed or provided “low financial value,” the agency said.

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While market declines during a sell-off can induce fears, experts say it’s important you don’t stray from your retirement goals.
“Today you’re getting to buy it at a discount,” said Winnie Sun, co-founder and managing director of Sun Group Wealth Partners in Irvine, California. “It’s better to buy things on sale than to buy at full price.”

Westend61 | Westend61 | Getty Images

Picture this: You walk into a big grocery store and everything is deeply discounted, said Winnie Sun, co-founder and managing director of Sun Group Wealth Partners in Irvine, California.
“What would you buy that you know that your household would need for the future?” she said. “That could be like paper towels, it could be toilet paper, it could be things that you know that you’re going to need long term.”

It’s smart to adopt a similar mindset when the stock market pulls back as it did Monday, said Sun, who is also a member of the CNBC Financial Advisor Council. Think of positions that you would like to add to your portfolio.
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The Dow Jones Industrial Average had dropped 2.6% to start the week, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 3.43% and the S&P 500 slid 3%. The blue-chip Dow and S&P 500 registered their biggest daily losses since September 2022.
“When the stock market pulls back at these levels, these are great opportunities to invest in core names or a quality portfolio that you always wanted,” she said.
“Today you’re getting to buy it at a discount,” Sun said. “It’s better to buy things on sale than to buy at full price.”

‘The biggest mistake’ to avoid

While market declines can make investors nervous, experts say it’s important you don’t stray from your retirement goals. That means staying invested and keeping on schedule with regular contributions.
“Turning off your retirement contributions is really not the way to go, especially when the market gets volatile,” said Clifford Cornell, certified financial planner and associate financial advisor at Bone Fide Wealth in New York City. 
“Find comfort in the fact that markets do recover,” Cornell said. 
In fact, stocks picked up on Tuesday: The Dow was up 1.45% shortly before close, while the Nasdaq and S&P were up 1.84, and 1.83%, respectively.

“The biggest mistake,” is when individuals sell off their assets during market downturns, according to CFP Stacy Francis, president and CEO of Francis Financial in New York City.
Then they “miss out on the wonderful rally that we’re seeing today,” said Francis, a CNBC FA Council member.
That’s not an unusual pattern: In a JPMorgan Asset Management analysis spanning Jan. 1, 2003 to Dec. 31, 2022, seven of the market’s 10 best days happened within two weeks of its worst 10 days.
Francis also cautioned that the market will likely continue to see volatility leading up to the presidential election.
“You can’t control the market, but you can control how you react to that,” Francis said. “How you react is going to spell your long term success.”  More

Over the past three months, the segment of marginally attached workers grew by a monthly average of 247,000, an economist said.
That can be a “warning sign” for the U.S. labor market.
However, experts believe it may be too early to tell if the marginally attached worker labor segment will continue to grow, and at such a rapid pace.

Ezra Bailey | Stone | Getty Images

The unemployment rate jumped in July, and there is a detail in the data that has alarmed some economists.
So-called marginally attached workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, are those who are available to work and want a job, but have not searched for a job in the four weeks preceding the survey.

People in that category are at risk of transitioning into “disconnected workers,” or participants who completely drop out of the labor force, whether it be because of too-low wages or because of high competition. 
Over the past three months, the segment of marginally attached workers grew by a monthly average of 247,000, according to an analysis from Alí Bustamante, a labor economist and director of the Worker Power and Economic Security program at the Roosevelt Institute, a liberal think tank based in New York City. Bustamante assessed marginally attached workers plus unemployed workers as a group, which the BLS refers to as U-6.  
“That’s a warning sign” for the labor market, he said.
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A sustained increase in marginally attached workers would be a negative indicator for the U.S. labor market, said Nick Bunker, economic research director for North America for Indeed Hiring Lab. It is a sign that people want a job, but are having a hard time finding a job, he said.

A ‘new phase’ for the job market

However, experts believe it may be too early to tell if the marginally attached worker labor segment will continue to grow, and at such a rapid pace.
“If there is a sustained increase in marginally attached workers, that would be concerning. But I don’t see a sustained increase right now,” Bunker said.
“This is one category that we really will look at for the next month,” said Teresa Ghilarducci, a labor economist and professor of economics at The New School for Social Research.

The jump could also reflect a correction after much-stronger-than-expected jobs reports in the past three months, said Ghilarducci, who is also the director of the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis and The New School’s Retirement Equity Lab.
Job growth has begun to slow down as more people look for jobs and increase competition for open roles, which showcases a potential “new phase” in the market, Bustamante explained.
“In its new phase, the U.S. labor market remains strong but workers are facing much more competition for open jobs than in the past year,” said Bustamante. “This means that incumbent workers are switching jobs much less often and new entrants to the labor force are experiencing longer job searches.”

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Collectively, Americans owe a record $1.14 trillion on their credit cards, according to a new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
As credit card debt mounts, young adults, who are likely renters with less of a financial cushion than their elders, are increasingly falling behind.

Who is falling behind on credit card bills

These borrowers “may have overextended during the pandemic,” the New York Fed researchers said on a press call Tuesday.
Delinquent borrowers are often renters, with shorter credit histories and lower credit limits, making them more likely to be financially vulnerable and miss a payment, the researchers said.
Over the last year, roughly 9.1% of credit card balances transitioned into delinquency, the New York Fed found.

In the years since the pandemic, homeownership has been one of the greatest tools of wealth creation — and those who have been priced out of the housing market have disproportionately struggled to achieve the same level of financial security, according to Brett House, economics professor at Columbia Business School.
Among the millennials transitioning into delinquency, many also entered the labor market during the Great Recession and may be experiencing the prolonged negative effects of graduating into an economic downturn, the New York Fed researchers said. Those who join the workforce in a period of elevated unemployment have lower long-term earnings, many studies show.

50% of Americans are carrying a balance

These days, 57% of consumers rely on credit cards to make ends meet, according to a separate survey by Achieve, and 36% of consumers said it is difficult to pay recurring debts on time. Achieve polled 2,000 adults with one or more kinds of consumer debt in June.
Of those surveyed who had missed a payment, most cited a job loss or reduced income as the main reason they have recently fallen behind.
Now half of cardholders carry debt from month to month, according to another report by Bankrate.  
“High inflation and high interest rates have eroded Americans’ savings and more people are carrying more debt for longer periods of time,” said Ted Rossman, Bankrate’s senior industry analyst.

Credit card rates top 20%

At the same time, credit cards have become one of the most expensive ways to borrow money. Credit card rates, already high in recent years, spiked when the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates to tame inflation.
Since most credit cards have a variable rate, there’s a direct connection to the Fed’s benchmark. As the federal funds rate rose, the prime rate did as well, and credit card rates followed suit.
Lower-income households, who had to stretch to cover price increases, have been hit especially hard after a string of 11 rate hikes lifted the average credit card rate to more than 20% — near an all-time high.
“With credit card balances at an all-time high and the average credit card rate hovering near record territory, it’s more important than ever to pay down this debt as soon as possible,” Rossman said.
With that annual percentage rate of 20%, if you made minimum payments toward the average credit card balance of $6,218, it would take you 18 years to pay off the debt and cost you more than $9,300 in interest in that time period, Rossman calculated.
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Brokerage firm Robinhood announced on Monday evening that it would not offer overnight trading due to an issue with its execution venue.
The company said in a post on social media site X that Blue Ocean ATS, the third-party firm that Robinhood works with for round-the-clock trading, has suspended its overnight market.

“Robinhood 24 Hour Market’s execution venue, Blue Ocean ATS (BOATs), has suspended overnight trading for tonight. 24 Hour Market orders that are open as of approx. 8 PM ET will be routed for execution starting at approx. 4 AM ET tomorrow. You may cancel your order at any time, and can still place an order for another trading session,” the statement said.
It is not clear if the suspension will last beyond early Tuesday morning, or if other brokerage firms that offer overnight trading are affected.
The announcement from Robinhood comes after several firms, including Charles Schwab, suffered technical issues on Monday that temporarily prevented some of their users from accessing their brokerage accounts.
Global markets saw a steep sell-off on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling more than 1,000 points and the S&P 500 posting its worst day since 2022.
Robinhood first introduced “24/5 trading” — running from 8 p.m. ET on Sunday to 8 p.m. ET on Friday — in May 2023. Overnight trading is typically limited to the most liquid stocks and ETFs in the market.
Blue Ocean did not immediately respond to a request for comment. More

Amid stock market volatility, it’s critical to avoid emotional moves that could stunt long-term portfolio growth, financial experts say.
U.S. stocks on Monday plunged as part of a global sell-off fueled by U.S. recession fears. But investors should avoid panic-selling to maximize long-term returns.
“Don’t panic and make some crazy, rash decision that veers away from your game plan,” warned certified financial planner Lee Baker, owner of Apex Financial Services.

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Amid stock market volatility, it’s critical to avoid emotional moves that could stunt long-term portfolio growth, financial experts say.
U.S. stocks on Monday plunged as part of a global sell-off fueled by U.S. recession fears. The U.S. dip followed a more than 12% drop for Japan’s Nikkei 225, its biggest one-day loss since Wall Street’s 1987 Black Monday crash.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average earlier Monday fell by more than 1,200 points but recovered slightly to 1,032 points, or 2.6% down, by about 3 p.m. ET. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite dropped 3.9% and the S&P 500 lost 3.2%.
“Don’t panic and make some crazy, rash decision that veers away from your game plan,” warned certified financial planner Lee Baker, owner of Apex Financial Services in Atlanta. 
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Panic selling can ‘crater your portfolio’

Some investors are prone to panic selling during periods of volatility and then often miss the stock market recovery with cash sitting on the sidelines, research shows.
“The roller-coaster ride back up happens just as quickly,” and missing recovery days “can crater your portfolio,” said Baker, who is also a member of CNBC’s Financial Advisor Council.

To that point, missing the 20 best days in the stock market from Jan. 1, 2003, to Dec. 30, 2022, would have cut your total portfolio returns by more than half, according to J.P. Morgan.
Ultimately, staying invested pays off long-term because “it’s a loser’s game” to try to time the market, Baker said.

‘Sleep better at night’ with cash reserves

During periods of market volatility, it’s important to focus on what you can control, rather than broader economic uncertainty, said Douglas Boneparth, a CFP and president of Bone Fide Wealth in New York, who is also a member of CNBC’s Financial Advisor Council.
Your existing cash reserves, for example, can cover emergencies or provide funds to “take advantage of opportunities,” he said. “This is the number one thing that can allow people to sleep better at night.”

While many experts suggest keeping three to six months of living expenses in cash, Boneparth recommends six to nine months, which “lends itself to staying the course” after stock market dips. If cash reserves are low, it may be a good time to revisit plans to rebuild.
One benefit of extra cash is you could use some of the funds to buy discounted assets after a market downturn, depending on your goals, he said.
“I’ve never come across someone who was upset that they had a little bit more cash than they needed,” Boneparth added. More