Every weekday, host Kai Ryssdal helps you make sense of the day’s business and economic news — no econ degree or finance background required. “Marketplace” takes you beyond the numbers, bringing you context. Our team of reporters all over the world speak with CEOs, policymakers and regular people just trying to get by.
331 episodes transcribedRetail sales ended last year strong, despite a somewhat uneasy economic mood. Today, we dig into a tool many spenders used to keep up: credit. Non-hou...
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: During a tumultuous few years, consumer spending has kept the U.S. economy afloat. December r...
The December consumer price index is in, and inflation did tick up a bit. The stickiest category? Shelter, which was up a whopping 4.6% year over year...
It’s Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s last week on the job. We called her up to discuss the future of the CHIPS Act, her experience work...
Vehicle fuel efficiency requirements, also known as Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, were enacted in response to the 1970s oil embargo. But C...
As many as 10,000 buildings have burned in the Los Angeles wildfires, officials say, and nearly 180,000 people have been ordered to evacuate. Angeleno...
Is economic uncertainty a feeling or a fact? Though you may think uncertainty defies measure, in this episode, we call up some economists who put a nu...
Several major wildfires are raging in and around Los Angeles today. In this episode, we explain why the cost of fighting these blazes has ballooned. W...
Dockworkers are back to the negotiation table with employers, and automation is a big sticking point. Mechanizing port operations can make them more e...
President-elect Donald Trump spent much of his campaign promising to impose tariffs on Chinese goods, and the value of the dollar has fluctuated in re...
President Biden blocked a nearly $15 billion deal for Japan-based Nippon Steel to buy U.S. Steel, citing national security concerns. Both firms say th...
A new congressional session begins on Friday and, like so many before them, the fresh cohort of lawmakers will have to come to a consensus on what to...
Natural gas prices are creeping up — the commodity leaped recently in futures trading. That means your January heating bill may be higher than antici...
We called up some economists to get their take on one word to describe this year’s economy. Mostly, experts said things fell somewhere in the mi...
Pending home sales grew for a fourth-straight month in November and housing supply just hit a four-year high. But that’s partly because many lis...
When workers get more productive, higher wages might follow. So what about jobs that just can’t get more productive? In this episode, we explain...
General Electric broke its business into three separate public companies this year, putting a higher profile on corporate spinoff strategies. We’...
Car prices tend to go up, but after a period of high interest rates, now is actually a decent time to buy. And Americans are buying — it’s one f...
There’s about a 1 in 5 chance your Christmas tree came from North Carolina this year. But growing them isn’t easy. In this episode, we che...
Consumer confidence, as assessed by The Conference Board, grew steadily the past few months. But in December, the index fell 7%. One likely driver? Ag...
