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Erika Soderstrom

Associate Producer

Erika works with a group of extraordinary producers to chase business and economic stories heard on “Marketplace Morning Report.”

Latest from Erika Soderstrom

  • Jun 10, 2022

    Are we back in a world of summer blockbusters?

    LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 08: A dinosaur attendant emerges from a shipping container surrounded by dinosaurs during the 'Jurassic World' take over at Waterloo Station on June 8, 2015 in London, England.
    Ian Gavan/Getty Images

    With “Jurassic World: Dominion” opening this weekend and the success of “Top Gun: Maverick” reigniting box office numbers, we look into whether the season of the summer blockbuster has returned after years of pandemic-induced inconsistency. The BBC reports on Japan’s reopening to tourists. A recycling company in France is transforming discarded face masks into different kinds of items.

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  • Jun 10, 2022

    Japan reopens to foreign tourists

    Japan reopens to foreign tourists
    Philip Fong/AFP

    From the BBC World Service: Japan is open once again to foreign travelers for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began, with strict rules being maintained in order to mitigate potential risks. Plus, a look at the factors behind Russia’s central bank’s key decision on interest rates. And we hear from one of the U.K. companies taking part in the biggest ever trial of a four-day working week with no loss of pay.

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  • Jun 9, 2022

    Pandemic poked holes in system for jobless benefits, says GAO

    Several state lawsuits aim to challenge officials who are curtailing federal assistance for jobless workers before the September end date.
    Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images

    The Government Accountability Office added unemployment insurance systems to its list of programs at high risk for fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement. Though jobless claims have remained low, the office has said the pandemic exposed a variety of weaknesses in the system. China correspondent Jennifer Pak provides another update from Shanghai, where she has a little more freedom of movement. Hundreds of thousands of children have lost a parent or guardian to COVID-19, and that also comes with devastating financial consequences.

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  • Jun 9, 2022

    Bipartisan bill takes aim at Big Tech’s power

    NEW YORK - AUGUST 19: Google's stock price appears on the NASDAQ Marketsite just before the markets close August 19, 2004 in New York City. Shares of Google Inc. closed at 100.34, or $15.34 higher than it opened.
    Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images

    A landmark antitrust bill would change the way the largest Big Tech companies do business. More states are requiring their high schoolers to learn the ways of money. Across the pond, our friends at the BBC are paying the equivalent of $8.60 for a gallon of regular gas. The national average here in the U.S. is $4.95. It’s a little more than $10 in Norway. We try to break down why.

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  • Jun 9, 2022

    European Central Bank meets amid soaring inflation

    The European Central Bank headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany
    Daniel Roland/AFP

    From the BBC World Service: The European Central Bank is holding a meeting in Amsterdam on Thursday, but is not expected to raise interest rates despite soaring inflation across the Eurozone. Plus, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization releases its first report into global food security since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, warning that the world’s poorest countries are now paying more money for less food. And, we look at the controversy surrounding the most lucrative golf tournament in world history, as the Saudi-backed extravaganza begins just outside London.

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  • Jun 8, 2022

    Companies attempt to stay in step with Pride Month

    A handful of companies started advertising to queer markets in the 1980s and '90s. Several decades later, hundreds redesign their logos and sell rainbow merchandise for the month of June.
    Leon Neal via Getty Images

    Companies around the world are showing their support for Pride Month, but the path to get there hasn’t been smooth. Instead of “rainbow washing,” people are pushing for more values-based practices. For more, we spoke to Andrew Isen, founder and president of WinMark Concepts, a marketing and communications agency focused on the LGBTQ community. In the NFL, heirs to the Walmart fortune have agreed to purchase the Denver Broncos. We look into how the SEC is tinkering with the “plumbing” of the stock market.

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  • Jun 8, 2022

    The SEC is set to propose changes to stock market operations

    Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on March 20, 2020 in New York City. Changes to the market that seem to target market efficiency are in the works.
    Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images

    What some of the possible changes could mean for investors.

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  • Jun 8, 2022

    Pride Month is a big deal for companies. Are values and actions actually aligned?

    A man walks on steps covered in rainbow colors for Pride Month at Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park in New York City.
    JOHANNES EISELE/AFP via Getty Images

    “Previously, it was about profit,” says marketing specialist Andrew Isen. He believes that’s changed.

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  • Jun 8, 2022

    How the SEC could alter the rules of the stock market

    NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JANUARY 03: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on the first day of trading in the new year on January 03, 2022 in New York City. Markets were up slightly in morning trading as Omicron cases begin to subside in South Africa despite rising across America.
    Getty Images

    It could be a summer of change for the stock market, as the SEC is expected to announce several proposed alterations that emerged not long after the “meme stock” excitement of last year. We spoke to Erik Gordon, professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, about some of the ideas in the works. The OECD warns that the war in Ukraine will cause higher inflation and lower growth. Wholesale inventories can offer up signs of where consumer demand is heading.

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  • Jun 8, 2022

    OECD cuts growth forecast on Ukraine war

    OECD Chief Economist Laurence Boone
    ERIC PIERMONT / AFP

    From the BBC World Service: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has issued a new report, warning that the war in Ukraine will cause higher inflation and lower growth for the next year at least. Meanwhile, Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has been holding talks in Ankara with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, who says Turkey supports a United Nations plan to facilitate exports of Ukrainian grain by sea. And in Australia, state, territory and federal government ministers have met for crisis talks over the soaring cost of natural gas.

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Erika Soderstrom