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.
Latest episodes
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25 min
What's in AI's next chapter?
A few Big Tech firms are slated to explain their quarterly earnings later this week. AI will, of course, be the protagonist of these earnings calls. Investors are hoping for some p…
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25 min
Your 401(k) is probably invested in AI
Big Tech is kind of carrying the stock market right now, thanks to all that spendy artificial intelligence innovation. That means your retirement account is probably invested in at…
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25 min
High risk, high rates — where's the reward?
Everyday consumers aren’t the only ones contending with rising borrowing costs. Corporations are also subject to those fluctuations — but the rates don’t rise equally across the bo…
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25 min
Small town economics clash with Big Tech agendas
In Crook County, Oregon, just east of the Cascade mountains, data centers sprawl across the high desert landscape. The area fell into economic decline during the Great Recession an…
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25 min
The loan demand balancing act
On Tuesday morning, lenders like KeyCorp, Mercantile Bank, and Atlantic Union Bank turned in their earnings reports. Those types of regional banks make plenty of loans, especially…
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25 min
Consumer credit creep
Inflation is affecting all of us. But when costs go up, lower-income households are especially vulnerable to credit creep — that’s when consumers use credit for more and more trans…
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26 min
A view of AI, from Mumbai
India’s economy, from one perspective, has a huge leg up on the U.S.: Its workforce is young and growing. “Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal visited Mumbai to learn what that growth lo…
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26 min
Where producer prices go, consumer prices are likely follow
On Thursday, we got to see the second act of our monthly inflation double feature: the producer price index. Producer prices rose 1.3% in September, which is the largest jump since…
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25 min
Energyflation? More like everything-flation
Inflation worsened in September, to 3.7% annually, up from 3.4% in August. Energy prices are mostly to blame, but the other slices of the economy are starting to show price stress.…
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25 min
Less coverage, more profit
UnitedHealth Group just reported Q3 earnings: Total revenue was down but profits were up. How’s it possible? A decline in Medicaid enrollment, AI-driven billing tools, and some goo…
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25 min
In India, a demographic golden age dawns
As the workforces of the U.S., U.K., and similar wealthy Western nations age, other countries with younger populations grow at a clip. Nowhere is this more true than India, where t…
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25 min
Surprise, you've got medical bills!
A 2020 law aimed at eliminating surprise medical expenses has shifted some unpredictable costs away from patients. The law was supposed to incentivize jointly set reasonable prices…
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25 min
Don't move a muscle!
First-time unemployment claims (layoffs, basically) have come in below 200,000 for four weeks running — the longest stretch since 1969. At the same time, the economy only barely ad…
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25 min
How's the stock market doing, minus AI?
The S&P 500 has hit more than two dozen record highs this year, and it’s got AI firms to thank. In fact, it’s easy to forget that a lot of other public companies are in a tough spo…
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25 min
We're stocking up
We got fresh data showing imports and inventory levels are up. Is it a sign of a strong economy, or a sign businesses are bracing for impact? In this episode, AI remains a major dr…
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25 min
A tale of two deficits
Despite Trump’s best efforts (a flurry of loosely targeted tariffs), the U.S. trade deficit is widening. But why is it widening? And what does it all have to do with foreign invest…
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26 min
Nike's not just doing it
In Nike’s earnings report this week, the brand said it may begin shrinking its operations and laying off workers. It’s been losing market share for a while now. We look at what wen…
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26 min
Inflation held steady in August. Yay?
The PCE price index (that's the Fed's preferred measure of inflation) held steady year-over-year in the latest report. Economists expected it to move up. So, why didn't it budge --…
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25 min
OpenAI is staying private (for now)
OpenAI just announced it will delay its IPO due to ongoing AI safety concerns. But when you’re a company as big as OpenAI, where does your funding come from? In this episode, ventu…
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26 min
Consumer confidence slides to 12-year low
Consumer confidence fell to a 12-year low in September, according to The Conference Board. The index has been trending down for a couple years, but this latest decline was steep. O…