Saving Christmas?

Toy manufacturers predicted a grinch-like holiday shopping season this year due to President Donald Trump’s 145% tariff on Chinese imports, but the pause Trump announced May 12 in the yo-yo-like trade war should help fill Christmas stockings after all. The administration lowered the tariff to 30% for 90 days while it negotiates a trade deal with China.

China produces 4 out of every 5 toys sold in America, and even a short dis­ruption to the supply chain can create shortages, according to Jay Foreman, the CEO of Basic Fun, maker of Tonka Trucks and Care Bears. Retailers and manufacturers place orders with Asian factories four to five months before items arrive in stores, and more than 80% of small and midsized toy manufacturers surveyed in April said they had delayed or canceled orders from China. Freight bookings from China to the U.S. surged 35% the day after the trade deal was announced, said Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen.

The 90-day reprieve should be enough to fill shelves thanks to the speed of Chinese factories, said Ryan Zhao, director at exporter Jiangsu Green Willow Textile, according to CNBC. Toy prices may still be higher despite lower tariffs if shipping companies raise their fares.

The houses of seven figures

The price tag for a starter home now tops $1 million in more than 230 U.S. cities, according to real estate data from Zillow released April 24. The typical starter home (in the lower third of a regional price range) sells for just under $200,000 nationwide, but the same home costs seven figures in 233 cities in 25 states. That’s up significantly from 85 cities just five years ago.

The California market skews the data, with 113 high-priced locales, and the New York City metro area, which includes parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, has 48 cities on the million-dollar list. Minnesota and Rhode Island joined the group for the first time.

Average home values have grown by 45% since early 2020. In the first quarter of 2025, the average home sale price nationwide was about $500,000, with the median price about $80,000 less, according to the Federal Reserve. —T.V.

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Eat now, pay later

Twenty-five percent of Americans who use “buy now, pay later” loans have used them to buy groceries—an 11 percentage-point increase from a year ago, according to a Lending Tree ­survey released April 23. About a quarter of survey respondents also said they’d had three or more BNPL loans simultaneously, and 41% missed at least one payment in the past year, up from 34% a year ago. BNPL loans break up retail purchases into equal, interest-free installments, but easy access to credit encourages overspending and often includes processing fees and late-payment charges. —T.V.