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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

  • Eating at restaurants, going to the gym, attending college classes: How do you assign risk values to these various activities?
    Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images

    MIT researchers have created a framework to assess the “cumulative risk” of opening various businesses and public spaces. Johnson & Johnson says it’ll stop selling the talc-based version of its baby powder. The SBA says PPP loans are getting smaller.

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  • Venezuela's government has been seeking its gold from the Bank of England since 2018.
    Federico Parra/AFP via Getty Images

    Venezuela’s central bank is taking legal action to get its bullion back. Will Spain extend its COVID-19 emergency measures for a fifth time? An extra public holiday could boost global tourism.

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  • New Treasury guidelines mean businesses can bring back fewer employees and still meet the loan forgiveness requirements.
    Scott Olson/Getty Images

    Housing starts in April fell by more than expected last month, a 30% drop. President Trump’s threat to the WHO. Home improvement sales hold steady. The complicated rules that businesses with PPP loans have to follow to get them forgiven.

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  • It's going to be a bad year for electric cars, but it will be a worse one for regular, combustion engine cars.
    Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

    Electric car sales will be down this year, but not as much as sales for combustion engine cars. Local meat producers are having a moment. Prince Charles calls for British people looking for work to help with the harvest.

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  • President Trump has given the WHO an ultimatum over its COVID-19 handling.
    Rahman Roslan/Getty Images

    President Trump issued a 30-day ultimatum to the World Health Organisation over its handling of COVID-19. China sticks 80% tariffs on Australian barley imports. Britain oulines its post-Brexit tariff plans.

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  • For already-struggling stores like J.C. Penney, the hit to retail because of the pandemic has been too much.
    Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

    J.C. Penney becomes the latest in a line of major retailers to declare bankruptcy. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s message to the government on COVID-19 relief. Walmart earnings and how our shopping habits have changed.

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  • The timeline for U.S. economic recovery depends in large part on the timing of a COVID-19 vaccine.
    Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

    Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell thinks it might take until the end of 2021 for the economy to recover. Auto companies take steps to protect workers as car factories reopen. What’s it like to be hired remotely during this pandemic?

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  • The world's third-largest economy is now in recession.
    Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP via Getty Images

    Will a $1 trillion stimulus be enough to spur Japan’s economic recovery? Seventy percent of India’s hotels could close due to COVID-19, as economic forecasts worsen. Airlines struggle to deal with the impact of quarantine measures.

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  • The drop in retail sales for April was deeper than forecasted.
    Sean Rayford/Getty Images

    A 16% drop in retail sales for April. Federal regulators have raised a question about the accuracy of a new COVID-19 test. Data that one vaccine from Oxford is working in monkeys. How farmers in the Northwest are doing.

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  • Making employees deal with patrons who break the rules could lead to trouble.
    Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images

    As states ease restrictions, businesses begin making plans for reopening. And some of those plans call for the employees to enforce social distancing. Have oil prices bottomed out, with more people moving around? Pawnshops are seeing more business.

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