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(NEW YORK) — After a near-historic decline over the first half of the year, the S&P 500 — a popular index to which many 401(k) accounts are pegged — bounced back in July with its strongest month since November 2020. The other major indices, the tech-heavy Nasdaq and the Dow Industrial Average, reversed their performance, too.

The sudden shift arrived despite little change in the economy. In keeping with recent months, the government released mixed economic data and the Federal Reserve escalated a series of borrowing cost increases meant to slow economic activity, slash demand and dial back inflation.

The explanation behind the bounce back, investment strategists told ABC News, is the reason why investors should not expect it to endure: expectations.

It hardly sounds like the makings of a stock boom, which relies on investor optimism about the outlook for corporate profits.

Over the first half of the year, as the market plummeted and pessimism reigned, investors lowered their expectations, the strategists said. Last month, when the Federal Reserve signaled it would someday ratchet down rate increases and many corporations reported better-than-anticipated earnings, investors saw a reason for a turnabout in sentiment, they added.

The strong returns in July raise expectations, however, the market is setting up for underperformance amid persistent economic challenges, such as inflation, the Russia-Ukraine war, and the pandemic-induced supply chain disruptions, the strategists said.

“It’s not about good or bad,” Ryan Detrick, the chief market strategist at Carson Group, told ABC News. “It’s about better or worse.”

“Expectations were so low — the wick was there,” he said. “We needed anything to light that fire.”

Sameer Samana, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, said it will prove difficult to keep that fire lit.

“Unfortunately, along with rising stock prices, you have rising expectations as well,” he said.

For months, market sentiment has strained under the weight of an economy beset by a stark imbalance between supply and demand. A surge in demand followed a pandemic-induced flood of economic stimulus that combined with a widespread shift toward goods instead of services. Meanwhile, that stimulus brought about a speedy economic recovery from the March 2020 downturn, triggering a hiring blitz.

But the surge in demand for goods and labor far outpaced supply. COVID-related bottlenecks in China and elsewhere slowed delivery times and infection fears kept workers on the sidelines. In turn, prices and wages skyrocketed, ultimately prompting sky-high inflation that had not only endured for many months but had also gotten worse, even as economic growth slowed and recession fears grew.

Taken together, the near-historic inflation and sluggish economic activity drove away stock market investors over the first half of the year, said Samana, the senior global market strategist at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

“People, to a certain extent, had been throwing in the towel on equities. They were worried about the Fed, worried about China, worried about commodity prices, worried about a recession,” he said. “There was no shortage of worries.”

“What often happens when you get that level of concern is that everybody is on one side of the boat,” he added. “Then what happens is you get a piece of data that isn’t as bad as feared, and people shift to the other side. It causes a herd mentality.”

Market strategists largely attributed the July turnaround to the Federal Reserve signaling it would raise its benchmark interest rate 0.75%, which it ultimately did on Wednesday — a significant hike but less than the 1% increase that some observers had originally feared. Plus, investors seized on comments made by Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday that the pace of rate hikes would eventually slow.

“People think the Fed will have to change its mindset sooner rather than later,” Mike O’Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading, told ABC News.

Over the first six months of the year, the S&P 500 plummeted 20.6%, marking its worst first-half performance of any year since 1970. But the index added back 9.1% last month alone.

The blistering pace from July isn’t sustainable, the strategists said. Further, investors should expect volatile highs and lows for the remainder of the year, they added.

O’Rourke said investors should expect a volatile market for the next six to 12 months. Other strategists echoed that view, including Detrick, who warned that investors shouldn’t treat July as a turning point. That said, he urged them to stay the course.

“This year has been historically volatile and disappointing for investors,” Detrick said. “To panic and sell when everything is darkest, that’s the worst time to do it. Hopefully this bounce back in July reminds investors of that.”

“But the truth is, we’re not out of the woods,” he said.

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(WASHINGTON) — More than 60 major American companies that employ tens of thousands of U.S. workers are asking the Supreme Court to uphold the use of race as a factor in college admissions, calling affirmative action critical to building diverse workforces and, in turn, growing profits.

The businesses — some of the most high-profile and successful in the U.S. economy — outlined their position in legal briefs filed Monday ahead of oral arguments this fall in a pair of cases expected to determine the future of the race-based policy.

The companies told the court they rely on universities to cultivate racially diverse student bodies which in turn yield pools of diverse, highly educated job candidates that can meet their business and customer needs.

“The government’s interest in promoting student-body diversity on university campuses remains compelling from a business perspective,” the companies wrote in an amicus, or friend-of-the-court, brief. “The interest in promoting student-body diversity at America’s universities has, if anything, grown in importance.”

Among the signatories are American Express, United and American Airlines, Apple, Intel, Bayer, General Electric, Kraft Heinz, Microsoft, Verizon, Procter & Gamble and Starbucks.

Citing data and research on a rapidly diversifying America, the companies said race-based diversity initiatives are about more than what many call a moral imperative and critical to their bottom lines.

“Prohibiting universities nationwide from considering race among other factors in composing student bodies would undermine businesses’ efforts to build diverse workforces,” they said.

Eight of the top U.S. science and technology companies, including DuPont and Gilead Sciences, filed a separate brief stressing their view on the importance of racially diverse campuses for cultivating the best future innovators.

“If universities are not educating a diverse student body, then they are not educating many of the best,” they wrote, urging the court not to strike down affirmative action. “Today’s markets require capitalizing on the racial and other diversity among us … Those efforts, in turn, contribute to the broader health of our nation’s economy.”

In a series of decisions beginning in 1978, the high court has found that race can be used as one factor among many when considering college admissions applications but that a school cannot use quotas or mathematical formulas to diversify a class.

“In order to cultivate a set of leaders with legitimacy in the eyes of the citizenry, it is necessary that the path to leadership be visibly open to talented and qualified individuals of every race and ethnicity,” Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote in her 2003 opinion in Grutter v. Bollinger.

A conservative student group challenging the use of race as a factor in undergraduate admissions at Harvard University, the nation’s oldest private college, and the University of North Carolina, the nation’s oldest public state university, is asking the court to overturn that precedent.

The group, Students for Fair Admissions, alleges that Asian-American applicants have been illegally targeted by Harvard and rejected at a disproportionately higher rate in violation of Supreme Court precedent and the students’ constitutional rights.

Two lower federal courts have rejected those claims.

That the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the cases is widely seen as an indication that the justices could be willing to revisit their precedents on affirmative action and end the use of racial classifications in admissions altogether.

It will be the first test on the issue for the court’s six-to-three conservative-leaning majority, following the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy and the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, both of whom defended race-conscious admissions.

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(NEW YORK) — One sole winning jackpot ticket was sold in a Speedway convenience store in Des Plaines, Illinois, in a historic $1.34 billion drawing, according to Mega Millions.

One ticket matched all six numbers in Friday night’s drawing. The winning numbers were 67, 45, 57, 36, 13 and the mega ball was 14.

The jackpot was initially estimated to be $1.28 billion, but had officially grown to $1.34 billion due to last-minute sales, Illinois lottery director Harold Mays said at a press briefing on Saturday.

The prize is the equivalent of $780 million in cash, he said.

Mega Millions has yet to hear from the winner, Mays said.

“We don’t know whether they even know that they won a prize. So I encourage everybody to check your ticket,” he said, noting that it could take a few weeks for a winner to come forward to “get their affairs in order.”

The winner can opt to remain anonymous, he said.

The Speedway will receive $500,000 for selling the winning ticket, according to Mays.

For only the third time in the 20-year history of the American lottery game, the big prize has reached the billion-dollar mark. The jackpot has grown to an estimated $1.28 billion — a cash value of $648.2 million — after no ticket matched all six numbers drawn Tuesday night, according to a press release from Mega Millions.

This is the second-largest jackpot in Mega Millions history, behind only the record $1.537 billion won in South Carolina on Oct. 23, 2018 — the world’s largest lottery prize ever won on a single ticket.

“We are thrilled to have witnessed one of the biggest jackpot wins in Mega Millions history. We’re eager to find out who won and look forward to congratulating the winner soon!” Ohio lottery director Pat McDonald, currently serving as lead director for the Mega Millions Consortium, said in a press release.

The jackpot has reset to $20 million for Tuesday’s drawing.

Friday night’s Mega Millions drawing marked the 30th in this jackpot run, which began on April 19.

In the 29 drawings since the Mega Millions jackpot was last won in Tennessee on April 15, there have been over 28.1 million winning tickets at all prize levels, including 42 worth $1 million or more in 17 states across the country. Four Mega Millions jackpots have been won so far this year — in California, New York, Minnesota and Tennessee.

Mega Millions jackpots start at $20 million and grow based on game sales and interest rates. Despite a surge in ticket sales, the odds of winning the big prize remain the same — 1 in 303 million.

Mega Millions tickets are $2 and can be purchased in 45 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are conducted at 11 p.m. ET every Tuesday and Friday at the studios of Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB-TV, supervised by the Georgia Lottery.

Winners can either take the money as an immediate cash lump sum or in 30 annual payments over 29 years.

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(NEW YORK) — For decades, the aviation industry has carried the reputation of being overtly male and white. At least 95% of the roughly 158,000 pilots employed in the United States are men, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“This is a very male-dominated industry,” said Dana Donati, a former pilot with Republic Airways.

Donati recalls being one of two females in her college aviation courses and during her early officer training.

At the height of summer travel, as airlines brace for a pilot shortage on one side and recent protests from current pilots on the other, some airlines are making efforts to attract the next generation of pilots who have been historically excluded from the industry — women and people of color.

Donati, who now serves as the CEO of United Aviate Academy, is one of those aviation professionals trying to change the system. Founded by United Airlines, the academy is a 12-month program in Phoenix, Arizona, that aims to diversify the cockpit.

The program offers a 12-month training footprint, in which students complete several certificates on private piloting, commercial piloting, instrument operations and more.

“It’s about time the industry looks at how they have historically operated,” added Donati.

The figures are stark — there are only about 200 Black women pilots in the U.S., accounting for less than 1 percent of the profession, according to Sisters of the Skies, an organization advocating for Black women pilots.

Flying has traditionally been an “elitist” profession, according to Theresa Claiborne, the first Black woman pilot in the U.S. Air Force and a United Airlines pilot.

“They did not make any provisions. So, it’s been perpetuated,” said Claiborne, who holds the rank of captain, the highest rank for commercial pilots.

Claiborne attributes flight costs and generational and economic disadvantages as significant contributors to the lack of pilots of color.

Adding the total costs for an aspiring pilot to obtain all licenses and complete 1,500 hours of flight training required by the FAA to become an airline pilot are estimated to cost nearly $100,000.

“That’s a lot of money. And financial institutions are not jumping at the bit to loan that kind of money to an aviation student,” Claiborne said. “We don’t have these long generations of pilots in the family.”

Other commercial airlines are also pushing efforts toward diversity, including Delta Airlines, which launched the Delta Propel Career Path Program. The program offers an accelerated path to the flight deck for selected students across 13 universities around the US.

“Delta’s commitment to developing a diverse workforce that is reflective of the communities we serve domestically and around the world is unwavering. This includes removing barriers and broadening recruiting funnels to help create a diverse pipeline for qualified and talented pilots to join us,” a Delta airlines spokesperson told ABC News.

In 2008, JetBlue launched Gateway University, the airline’s first pilot development program for prospective pilots and aircraft maintenance technicians.

“JetBlue is addressing the uncertainty that prevent many from pursuing their dreams and can very well meet the growing need for aviation professionals while also opening the door to underrepresented communities, including women and people of color,” a JetBlue spokesperson added.

Donati said the makeup of pilots hasn’t changed in over 20 years. “It’s time that we think differently about how we’re approaching our communities and supporting students entering this career,” she said.

Eighty percent of the inaugural class of future pilots at United Aviate Academy identify as women or people of color. In that number is Abby Awosanya, a 25-year-old first-generation Nigerian-American from Maryland. Awosanya recently obtained her private pilot license and is working to become a 787 captain for United Airlines.

“I probably would have gotten involved in aviation sooner if there was some sort of representation,” Awosanya told ABC News.

After completing her first solo flight in April, Awosanya says she’s proud to be part of the inaugural class. She says she looks forward to “changing the way the flight deck looks to better reflect the passengers who are in the cabin.”

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(NEW YORK) — As JetBlue prepares to begin its takeover of Spirit Airlines in a $3.8 billion deal, many are left wondering what the future holds for both airlines and their loyal customers.

The JetBlue-Spirit agreement still faces a shareholder vote and regulatory approval, which could prove difficult if federal officials believe the deal would reduce competition and increase fares. Spirit is known for its barebones and deeply discounted fares, while JetBlue is more of a full-service airline.

“I think it’s bad news for travelers,” Scott Keyes, founder of Scott’s Cheap Flights, said in an interview with ABC News. “Competition between airlines is the single biggest determinant of how many cheap flights you see on any given route.”

Keyes said Spirit is an “anchor” in the airfare market and its low fares tend to drive down ticket prices offered by mainline carriers.

“Your Delta fares, your American fares are actually cheaper if they’re on a route where they’re competing with Spirit, because they need to drop those fares to try to compete and get more customers,” Keyes said.

JetBlue’s CEO Robin Hayes said the acquisition could be a “solution to the lack of competition” in the U.S. airline industry, saying in a press release, “Spirit and JetBlue will continue to advance our shared goal of disrupting the industry to bring down fares from the Big Four airlines.”

While experts say the Spirit shareholder vote should pass, JetBlue is expected to face regulatory hurdles.

“[The Department of Justice] will try to model what will happen with one fewer airline. What will that do to route structure, to load factors, capacity and fares,” Ravi Sarathy, professor of International Business and Strategy at Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business, told ABC News. “And they’ll also try to model whether this will improve overall air quality and flight service quality.”

Sarathy said the merger could help improve JetBlue’s product. With the $3.8 billion purchase, JetBlue would also gain Spirit’s Airbus fleet and its pilot staffing – both in high demand as airlines face the ongoing pilot shortage and delayed aircraft deliveries amid supply chain disruptions.

“The question will be, do Spirit passengers want better service, or are they really more concerned about the lowest possible cost of flying?” Sarathy said. “That remains to be seen.”

JetBlue offers lie-flat seats on some transcontinental routes and to London, while Spirit does not have a first/business class cabin. JetBlue also offers free, seatback in-flight entertainment and snacks; Spirit does not have inflight televisions or free food. It’s unclear how the two airlines would blend their products if a merger is approved.

Spirit shareholders are expected to vote next month on the merger. If that vote passes, a review from the federal government could take months if not years.

ABC News’ Sam Sweeney contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — Who will win the Mega Millions jackpot in Friday night’s drawing? That’s the billion-dollar question.

For only the third time in the 20-year history of the American lottery game, the big prize has reached the billion-dollar mark. The jackpot has grown to an estimated $1.1 billion — a cash value of $648.2 million — after no ticket matched all six numbers drawn Tuesday night, according to a press release from Mega Millions.

If won, it will be the second-largest jackpot in Mega Millions history, behind only the record $1.537 billion won in South Carolina on Oct. 23, 2018 — the world’s largest lottery prize ever won on a single ticket.

Friday night’s Mega Millions drawing will mark the 30th in this jackpot run, which began on April 19.

In the 29 drawings since the Mega Millions jackpot was last won in Tennessee on April 15, there have been over 28.1 million winning tickets at all prize levels, including 42 worth $1 million or more in 17 states across the country. Four Mega Millions jackpots have been won so far this year — in California, New York, Minnesota and Tennessee.

Mega Millions jackpots start at $20 million and grow based on game sales and interest rates. Despite a surge in ticket sales, the odds of winning the big prize remain the same — 1 in 303 million.

Mega Millions tickets are $2 and can be purchased in 45 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are conducted at 11 p.m. ET every Tuesday and Friday at the studios of Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB-TV, supervised by the Georgia Lottery.

Winners can either take the money as an immediate cash lump sum or in 30 annual payments over 29 years.

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(JOLIET, Ill.) — Employees at a Joliet, Illinois, Amazon warehouse have filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the company, alleging corporate abuse, racial discrimination, and retaliation.

According to the complaint filed Tuesday, a group of Black employees at the MDW2 Fulfillment Center said that Confederate imagery on coworkers’ clothing, racist death threats written in bathroom stalls, and a lack of security and accountability have contributed to a racially hostile work environment since late 2021. Institutional abuse and women’s rights attorney Tamara Holder said her clients are now not only seeking change in the workplace to appropriately address and resolve these issues, but monetary damages for emotional duress caused by stressful working conditions.

“We don’t know what that amount comes to at this point. But I can tell you that after working in a climate where it’s racially hostile, people are experiencing extreme emotional distress,” she told ABC News. “Our message to Amazon is that their behavior after our cases come to light is only increasing our damages because people are becoming more afraid rather than less.”

As the case receives more attention, Holder said that employees are hesitant to speak out any more about these claims for fear of further retaliation from the MDW2 Fulfillment Center management, causing concern for the future of this case and her clients’ livelihoods.

“They are allegedly telling their employees that if they speak out, they will be fired because they signed an agreement to remain silent,” Holder told ABC News.

Holder says former MDW2 employee Tori Davis was the first to make contact with her about the warehouse’s work environment. Davis, who was fired earlier this month after raising the alarm about her concerns, told ABC affiliate WLS that the death threats were dismissed by Amazon.

“They were trying to sweep it under the rug,” Davis said. “The way that this situation was handled, it was strange.”

A spokesperson for Amazon, Richard Rocha, issued a statement to ABC News.

“Amazon works hard to protect our employees from any form of discrimination and to provide an environment where employees feel safe. Hate or racism have no place in our society and are certainly not tolerated by Amazon,” the statement read.

The MDW2 Fulfillment Center did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

Holder said she plans to do everything in her power to see the complaint through and ensure that her clients’ voices are heard.

“I think that they had an opportunity here to make it better. And instead they’re taking a very, very different aggressive stance to make it worse,” she said. “They are not too big for me and they are not too big for the people that I represent…We are not going away.”

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(NEW YORK) — The Mega Millions jackpot has risen to over a billion dollars. With Americans across the country rushing to secure tickets for the chance to win big, it’s likely someone will hear their ticket numbers announced Friday night.

But, for those lucky winners who become millionaires overnight, what comes next?

While buying a mansion, going on a dream vacation or taking an extended shopping spree may seem like the most logical first move after winning the lottery, there are actually a few steps someone has to take to claim and obtain their prize.

Keep it quiet

The first step experts suggest for winners is harder than you may think — keep your mouth shut.

Experts say that keeping as little people in the know about your big win is key.

Walt Blenner, an attorney who’s worked extensively with lottery winners, said the more relatives and friends you tell, the more likely the news will get out.

Especially for big wins, like a Mega Millions jackpot, safety is priority, Blenner said. He suggests that winners get out of town, just far enough to be under the radar.

“You don’t need to rent a dacha in Siberia – my last big winner rented a modest house under an assumed name just a few dozen miles away from where he lived for one month,” Blenner told ABC News. “Putting distance between the lottery winner and familiar surroundings is best.”

Kurt Panouses, a seasoned “lottery lawyer” from Florida, told ABC News that many of his big-winner clients are grateful they kept their winnings private, so they could live their lives without safety concerns, or awkward questions from friends and family who could view the winner as a money source.

Get professional advice

After ensuring your safety, experts say it’s imperative to get advice from qualified and experienced professionals.

While not all professionals use the same strategies, finding one that suits you can ensure that you make the best decision after scoring a winning ticket.

“You’re talking about the most important financial decision that they and their family is ever going to make,” said Panouses, who is also a certified public accountant or CPA.

Blenner believes in bringing in a team of professionals for specific needs. He said his primary job is to line a winner up with a financial team, including a wealth manager, tax attorney and a CPA. He also helps the client redeem their ticket, which is a process in itself.

Ultimately, finding professional guidance is key for a lottery winner as they navigate the many steps to becoming a millionaire.

Using trusts and LLCs

It’s common for lottery winners to set up a trust or a limited liability company, LLC, to claim their winnings from.

For some states, this means that you can claim your prize without using your real name, instead using the name of your LLC.

Depending on a state’s rules, you may have to jump through hoops to keep your identity safe.

Panouses said that when helping winners in Michigan, he had to create a club to claim the winning prize. Panouses came as a representative of that club to claim the winnings for his clients that had joined this “club” and their identities remained safe.

Trusts and LLCs can be used for one or more people, Panouses said, and ultimately make a safer process in claiming your prize.

Seeking professional assistance allows you to therefore establish a trust or LLC to use in this process.

Decide if you want to share

While winners are encouraged to stay quiet about their jackpot, experts say it’s better to decide before you claim if you are going to share your prize.

This is because any sums given after someone claims their prize will have a certain gift tax on it, which will end up costing the winner more money.

Experts say to figure out who you would be sharing the winnings with, and establish the percentages of who gets what. Everyone who is going to be claiming a piece of the prize can be joined together in a trust or LLC that is used to claim the money.

This way, no additional taxes will be added if you were planning on sharing the money.

Sharing the claim like this, experts say, also allows the main winner to save on the initial taxes, as everyone involved in the claim will take on parts of the income tax.

Cash or annuity?

Another decision lottery winners will be faced with is the decision to accept the cash lump sum or to take the winnings through annuity.

A cash lump sum means accepting the entire payment all at once, while annuity means accepting a series of payments over time.

It’s more common for winners to take the lump sum, Blenner said, because it provides them with the freedom to invest as they wish with maximum available funds up front.

Annuity may be a simpler option for those not familiar with organizing wealth, as a lump sum leaves you with a large, immediate sum that can be very overwhelming, Blenner said.

Panouses said the decision depends on who you are, where you are and what you are going to do with the money.

For young people, or someone more inexperienced with finances, annuity is a much safer route, Panouses said.

However, due to the high rates of inflation right now, annuity may be a better option for others, too, because of the impact on taxes. Essentially, the initial taxes taken out of a lump sum payment will be greater right now due to inflation.

Taking annuity means that some of your future earnings may not be so heavily taxed and you’ll keep more of the original prize.

But, if you live in a high-tax state or city, you could then risk losing more each year on taxes as you receive the new income.

If you will be taking on the full prize by yourself, your experience with finances and your projected tax costs are essential starting points to deciding if a lump sum or annuity payment is right for you.

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(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. economy shrank 0.9% in the second quarter of this year, the Commerce Department reported Thursday morning, marking the second quarter in a row that the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) has declined.

The economy contracted 1.6% in the first quarter of 2022.

According to the Commerce Department, the decline in GDP “reflected decreases in private inventory investment, residential fixed investment, federal government spending, state and local government spending, and nonresidential fixed investment that were partly offset by increases in exports and personal consumption expenditures (PCE).”

The latest contraction in GDP this year has raised fears of a recession.

As ABC News’ Economics Correspondent Rebecca Jarvis notes, “That makes it two back-to-back quarters of economic activity declining here in the United States — and that is considered on Wall Street a strong signal that we either are in a recession, or will be soon.”

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(NEW YORK) — New grants, technology enhancements and partnerships are helping grocers and shoppers who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to get more access to more places for online grocery shopping.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) opened applications earlier this month for grants to an organization that will provide technology and systems support for new retailers to offer SNAP online shopping.

The recipient of the $5 million SNAP EBT Modernization Technical Assistance Center grant funded by the American Rescue Plan, will be announced this fall and go toward creating a more diverse set of grocery stores beyond the larger chains with established online shopping programs.

Stacy Dean, the agency’s deputy undersecretary for food, nutrition and consumer services, called online grocery shopping “a vital resource that improves access and convenience for all, including low-income families.” She added that this grant has the potential to “improve customer service for SNAP participants, especially those that face barriers in traveling to a physical store.”

In more recent efforts to bolster support and expansion for EBT-SNAP payment integration, Instacart announced a new partnership with Albertsons to add more online grocery shopping benefits, including delivery and pickup, to give more families access to affordable food.

The company said it will add 10 new states to the SNAP payment integration, which will now include 49 states plus Washington, D.C., to serve nearly 30 million people experiencing food insecurity.

Delivery and pickup fees will be waived on the first three EBT SNAP orders for each customer with a valid EBT card associated with their Instacart account, according to a representative for the company. Standard rates apply after the first three orders.

Just over three million households using SNAP shopped online in May 2022, which was a substantial increase from the nearly 35,000 households in March 2020. The USDA said this was due in large part to its expansion of the pilot program at the onset of the COVID pandemic, which added nearly 130 retailers in two years.

“At Instacart, our goal is to continue unlocking access to nutritious food for those who need it most. We’ve long advocated to expand online EBT SNAP acceptance, and we’re proud to bring this critical service to people,” Sarah Mastrorocco, vice president of access to food and nutrition, said in a statement. “Our partners offer a broad selection of fresh food and pantry staples, and with this expansion, we’re giving more families access to nourishment, paired with the convenience of same-day delivery and pickup.”

SNAP is accepted for online grocery shopping with Meijer, Price Chopper/Market 32, Tops Friendly Markets and Albertsons, which includes Pavilions, Safeway and Vons.

With these expansions, the brand said it now powers EBT SNAP payments for over 60 retailers that span more than 8,000 stores.

The combined efforts to modernize the SNAP program are set to help more Americans who participate to have the same shopping access as food-secure families. The USDA is currently developing a pilot program that will allow SNAP consumers to use their phones to purchase groceries at checkout and will soon seek states to participate in the pilot.

As a whole, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) leverages 15 nutrition assistance programs to ensure that children, low-income individuals and families have opportunities for a better future through equitable access to safe, healthy and nutritious food while building a more resilient food system.

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