Good morning, CFOs. A key decision in the legal battle for tariff refunds; Kraken wins access to the Federal Reserve’s core payment systems; and Ferguson aims to use AI to boost sales productivity.

Tariff refunds are one step closer to becoming a reality.

A federal trade-court judge on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to start refunding the more than $130 billion it collected in the global tariffs invalidated by the Supreme Court last month.

Following a hearing involving a filtration company’s fight for a refund, Judge Richard Eaton at the Manhattan-based Court of International Trade issued a written order directing the administration to begin the process of refunding importers. He set a hearing for Friday at which he asked for updates.

More than 2,000 lawsuits have been filed by companies—including big names such as Costco Wholesale, FedEx and Pandora Jewelry—seeking to recoup their money.

Key quote: “This is the order I hoped for, but never expected to see,” said Larry Friedman, a partner at Barnes, Richardson & Colburn. He said the order means the government has to issue a refund to everyone who paid the tariffs.

Zing: Judge Eaton had this to say about the Justice Department’s argument that any refund process would require U.S. Customs and Border Protection to manually go through millions of import entries. “We live in the age of computers,” Eaton said. “It must be possible for Customs Service to program its computers so it doesn’t need a manual review.”

📆 Earnings

• BJ’s Wholesale Club
• Burlington Stores
• Ciena
• Costco Wholesale
• Gap
• Marvell Technology

Ferguson, one of the nation’s largest heating and plumbing suppliers, is developing AI tools to give its sales staff skills that can otherwise take years to develop on the job, according to CFO Bill Brundage.

It can take a long time to get new sales associates up to speed on the company’s products, services and pricing. Brundage spoke with CFO Journal about how Ferguson is turning to new artificial intelligence tools to help speed up the process. Below is an edited excerpt.

Are you using generative AI? If so, how?

Brundage: We’re using it in a few of the areas that you would probably expect us to so across our functional support areas, so whether you're talking about finance or legal or HR. We're piloting some different tools and technologies to drive additional productivity.

But really, where we see the value is, across our organization, upskilling our sales and customer-facing associates.

In what way?

Brundage: It’s actually a pretty complex industry to learn if you're new to the organization. It takes several years of learning the product, learning how to put together a project, learning how to work with the customer before you're really efficient. We see a great ability of AI to help us drive speed and consistency and quality, and actually free up our associates to spend more time relationship-building and selling to and with our customers.

So think of automating the bidding and the quoting process—so taking a set of plans, and allowing an AI tool or agent to do the first set of bids or quotes for those plans. Putting together the pricing, the invoicing and even the project management plan. And allowing the associate to get up to speed faster.

Anything we can do to speed the learning curve of our associates and then free up more of their time to spend with our customers, we think would be a real advantage for us.

Are these tools in the field?

Brundage: The process tools that I was referring to are in early stages, so we haven’t rolled a lot of that out. But parts and pieces of the transaction are leveraging AI—in areas like pricing, in areas like inventory management.

Kraken’s banking unit has won access to the Federal Reserve’s core payment systems, making it the first crypto firm to be able to move money on the same rails used by thousands of banks and credit unions.

The approval of the so-called master account at the Fed will allow the unit, Kraken Financial, to handle transactions more quickly and seamlessly for big clients and professional traders, the company said.

📰 Other headlines

• Container Shipping Companies Halt Bookings, Divert Vessels Due to Middle East Risks
• Exclusive: Morgan Stanley Lays Off 2,500 Employees Across All Divisions
• OpenAI’s Former Research Chief Aims to Automate Manufacturing With AI
• Fed’s Beige Book Sees a Stable Economy Still Facing Challenges
• Revolut Applies for U.S. Bank License in Expansion Push

📈 Earnings wrapup

• Ford Posts Lower U.S. Sales in February on Declines in Electric, Hybrid Vehicles
• Cracker Barrel Works to Repair Its Business
• Bath & Body Works Says Strategy Shift Making Progress But ‘Will Take Time’
• American Eagle Fourth-Quarter Sales Rise on Growth of Aerie
• Abercrombie Expects Slower Sales Growth, Tariff Headwinds in 2026
• JD.com Reports First Loss in Over Three Years
• Campari Shares Rise as Investors Toast Upbeat Guidance
• Adidas Shares Slide as Guidance Disappoints

The Wall Street Journal's CFO Journal offers corporate leaders and professionals CFO analysis, advice and commentary to make informed decisions. We cover topics including corporate tax, accounting, regulation, capital markets, management and strategy.

Follow us on X @WSJCFO. The WSJ CFO Journal Team comprises reporters Kristin Broughton, Mark Maurer and Jennifer Williams, and Bureau Chief Walden Siew.

You can reach us by replying to any newsletter, or email Walden at walden.siew@wsj.com.