Marketplace Morning Report

We'll get the big hiring and unemployment reports for April later this morning. Companies have been tightening their belts as they've been grappling with tariffs and economic uncertainty. We'll discuss. We'll also hear how two small businesses that rely on imports are navigating a tricky tariff landscape. Also, the Trump administration wants to make it easier to fire federal workers. What could that mean fo...

The stock market has been a bit of a roller coaster over the past month. For stock investors who don't need their money now, perhaps it’s no big deal. But if you're eyeing retirement in the near term, what questions should you be asking yourself? We'll discuss with Pam Krueger, host of the PBS personal finance show, “MoneyTrack.” Plus: why Starbucks is letting an algorithm decide the order in which drinks get m...

But times are not normal. New data shows pending home sales are down year over year in most of the country, with the exception of the Midwest. Lack of affordability is a huge issue, but so is uncertainty about the future. Also: stock futures are pointing up this morning after rosy results from tech companies, and why President Donald Trump's tariff policy is the "greatest act of geopolitical self-harm" one po...

From the BBC World Service: After months of fraught negotiations, the U.S. has signed a deal with Kyiv to share profits from the future sale of Ukraine's mineral and energy reserves. Plus, Facebook's parent company says its users could face a "materially worse" experience after a major regulatory blow from the European Commission. We'll also visit a huge wholesale market to see how businesses in China...

Gross domestic product shrunk 0.3% from January to March — the first growthless quarter since the pandemic recovery in early 2022. The cause? All the buying up that businesses and consumers did to beat tariff-induced price increases. We'll parse the data. Plus, Stellantis suspends 2025 guidance, Amazon backs away from transparency about the cost of tariffs, and the United Kingdom clamps down on a tax loophole for the r...

Amazon backtracked yesterday after reporting revealed the company was planning to display how much tariffs were raising prices on individual items and the White House angrily pushed back. Other companies, including Temu and Volkswagen, are being upfront with customers about tariffs’ impact on product prices. We'll hear more. Also on the show: factory activity falls in China, and a view of the economy before Donald Trum...

From the BBC World Service: New data shows China's manufacturing activity took a sharp dip in April — a sign that the ongoing trade war with the U.S. is starting to bite. Then, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to slash import duties on car parts in a short-term move to help U/S/ automakers. Plus, the U.K. is scrapping a centuries-old tax perk that lets wealthy foreigners shield their global assets.

For President Donald Trump's 100th day back at the White House, we’re checking in on the cost-cutting efforts of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. It claims $150 billion in savings from layoffs, canceled government contracts and shuttered agencies. Analysts dispute that number, and it's far short of what Musk had promised. And later: The president is set to give automakers a break on som...

From the BBC World Service: After claiming victory in Canada's election, Prime Minister Mark Carney has strong words for the Trump administration. We'll hear what he has to say and unpack the role that antagonism from the U.S. president played in the election. Plus, what does Carney's win mean for Canada's economic relationship with the States? Meanwhile, energy giant BP faces new pressure from investors to...

Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter tour kicks off tonight in Los Angeles. So far, tickets for the tour are cheaper and easier to get ahold of than during Beyoncé's 2023 Renaissance tour. That's probably less a reflection on Queen Bey and more that feelings of economic uncertainty are replacing post-pandemic revenge-spending habits. We'll hear more. Plus: a drop in cargo ships from China and dealing with debt in your golde...

Tomorrow marks 100 days of President Donald Trump's second term in office. We're taking a look this week at what this new administration has meant for the U.S. and global economies. We start today by chatting with Zanny Minton Beddoes, editor-in-chief of The Economist Magazine. And later: Tariffs have been used before by countries around the world to attempt to revitalize domestic industrialization. What can we lea...

From the BBC World Service: From rising prices to falling trade volumes, the impact of radical new U.S. trade policies is starting to filter through. But China says it's still “fully confident” it will achieve its target of roughly 5% economic growth this year, despite the escalating trade tensions. Also, global airline revenues are expected to top $1 trillion for the first time this year — thanks, in part, to pesky fe...

The Trump administration hopes that tariffs will encourage more products to be made in America. But a new report out this week also says the president's tariffs will be an effective tax increase, with low-income consumers hit the hardest. We'll unpack. Plus, by one analysis, California's economy is now the fourth largest in the world. And later: how the Trump administration is pushing the limits of authority ov...

In the months since President Donald Trump's re-election, a lot has changed between the United States and Canada. New import taxes and talk of Canada becoming the 51st state, for example. It all adds up to a strained relationship where Canadians feel both betrayed and uncertain about the future. Today, we're visiting Thunder Bay, Ontario to hear more. Plus, we're looking at why more farmers are struggling to pa...

From the BBC World Service: The U.K.'s Post Office continues to pay millions of dollars to use the bug-ridden Horizon IT system, whose failings resulted in hundreds of wrongful fraud convictions. We'll unpack why the Post Office has failed to switch systems yet. Then, India revokes visas and Pakistan halts trade after a deadly attack in Indian-administered Kashmir. Plus, we'll examine the rise in the price of g...

Scientists say they have developed a way to measure how much liability individual corporations have for the economic damage caused by climate change. The total cost over decades is calculated at $28 trillion, with 10 fossil fuel companies responsible for more than half of that amount. Plus, we'll read between the lines of the Federal Reserve's Beige Book and hear how a Baltimore community college is rising to meet ...