China has announced it's going to put some of its trillion dollars in currency into what will become one of the world's biggest investment funds. Alisa Roth looked into what Beijing might be buying.
President Bush will be in Colombia this weekend to show support for America's strongest ally in the region. Kai Ryssdal talks to foreign-policy analyst Adam Isaacson about the U.S.-Colombia relationship.
Analysts are speculating that New Century Financial could be another casualty in the subprime mortgage market. How did the industry get in such a mess? Steve Tripoli reports it was step by reality-ignoring step.
A report says FBI investigators have been playing fast and loose with national security letters, which give them access to businesses' private customer information. Hillary Wicai reports.
This year's early change to Daylight Saving Time was part of Congress' effort to save energy. But Lisa Napoli reports that nobody factored in how much energy it would take to make it happen.
Life is hard enough without having to decipher everything. Each week, Marketplace Money brings you a word or a phrase that has bubbled to the top of the news. For instance, "Universal Default." You hear it, you see it, but do you really know it?
This week, Congress held hearings on the credit card industry. Are high fees and late payments on their way out? Host Tess Vigeland interviews Marketplace's John Dimsdale.
Consumer Reports is out with its 2007 Best and Worst automotive issue. Sean Cole went to do some further research by going for a ride at the test drive center.
They don't give out pain relievers when you invest in the stock market. So how do you ensure that sudden changes won't make your portfolio sick? Marketplace's Steve Tripoli reports.
Hollywood's box office has returned to health despite all the doomsday predictions of two years ago. And Daily Variety's Mike Speier says we ain't seen nothin' yet — 2007 promises to be a huge year.
An SEC commissioner's remarks have riled up London's financial community — and the Brits are firing back. Roel Campos reportedly likened London's alternative market to a casino.
Controversy surrounding Diebold has left its e-voting machines under a cloud of suspicion, but the company is doing quite nicely. Electronic voting is just a small sideline business for Diebold — and one it stumbled onto at that.
Bill Gates and Warren Buffett still top the list, but competition is closing in. Mexico's Carlos Slim Helú is leading the race to the top, but there've been some interesting developments in Europe too.
Don't forget to spring forward this weekend. We're making the switch to Daylight Savings Time three weeks earlier this year, and that could save smart energy consumers some cash.
The Broad Institute will receive $100 million — the biggest award ever given for psychiatric disease research — to analyze thousands of genetic samples from people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Uruguay is next on the President's tour of Latin America. Bush will push for deeper trade ties with the tiny nation that's threatening to pull away from Brazil and Argentina in a show of diplomatic muscle.
British Airways wants to replace its long-haul jets and although the airline currently uses Boeing planes, it'll give struggling Airbus a chance to compete for the contract.
Congressional Democrats have moved to a new plan in their attempt to stop the war in Iraq: A series of deadlines that'll be attached to the president's emergency budget request. Hillary Wicai reports.
France's Louvre museum has licensed out its name and some of its contents to the United Arab Emirates. Many French museum curators and art historians are calling the deal a sellout. John Laurenson reports.
Everybody wants to do business in China, the world's biggest market. Americans included. Commentator James Mann suggests we're not thinking about it the right way.
On Wall Street, today was a day to celebrate the bounce. It's been a rough week or so in stocks, but as Ashley Milne-Tyte reports, at least one part of the economy's come out ahead.
Wikipedia, the online group-edited encyclopedia, is getting into the search-engine buisness. Its search will use the same collective process, but for profit. Pat Loeb reports.
The Environmental Defense Fund has hired an investment bank to advise it on the terms of the $42 billion buyout of Texas energy giant TXU that it engineered. Sam Eaton reports.
As part of President Bush's stop in Brazil, he's touring a biofuel plant and meeting with President Lula da Silva. Riordan Roett, a Latin American policy expert, talks with Kai Ryssdal about the visit.
American sugar producers aren't too sweet on this year's farm bill, which contains proposed subsidies being pushed by the candy industry. Stuart Cohen reports.
Ben Bernanke's had a pretty upbeat take on the economy — so is former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan stepping on his successor's toes with his gloomier-than-thou outlook? Chris Farrell says heck no.
Congress today looks at the employment situation facing African-American men. The statistics are daunting, and testimony is expected to point to education as both a culprit and a solution.
They're armed with guns and badges, but are they trained? Faced with shortages, some local police forces are taking advantage of grace periods that allow new officers to delay academy training — for up to two years in some states.
Europe wants to reduce emissions 20 percent by 2020, but questions over how to get there — such as how poor countries will keep up or whether to include nuclear power — are fueling critics' flames.
Washington wants economic change in China and wants it now, but analysts say U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is playing it smart by taking the soft line.
Europe has taken the global lead in combating climate change, but the E.U. may have a hard time convincing other nations to sign on as it struggles with internal disagreements and early failures.
The purpose of President Bush's weeklong trip to Latin America is to focus on social development to reduce poverty there, but his proposed 2008 budget actually cuts aid to the region — a detail that hasn't gone unnoticed.
Beijing's announcement that it's increasing military spending got some attention in Washington. Commentator Robert Reich explains that's just what the Chinese wanted.
Executives from some of the biggest credit card companies found themselves on the defensive on Capitol Hill today over their fees and interest rates. John Dimsdale reports.
Los Angeles County officials are considering whether to give Hepatitis A vaccinations to some 100,000 food-service workers after an infected cook was found to be working for a local catering company. Helen Palmer reports.
President Bush will head to Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay. But he won't be going to countries where the politics are aligned with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez. Dan Grech reports.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is expected to tell the Shanghai Futures Exchange on Thursday that it's time for China to get serious about opening its markets. Marketplace's Scott Tong talks with Kai Ryssdal about what's at stake.
Exxon Mobil announced it's going to spend about $20 billion a year to boost production by a million barrels a day through the end of the decade. But Sam Eaton reports that there's less to the news than meets the eye.
The Iranian parliament raised the price of its heavily subsidized gasoline and moved toward rationing supplies. Kai Ryssdal talked to reporter Roxana Sabieri to see how this is going down in Teheran.
Web broadcasters are warning lawmakers about a sharp increase in federally-mandated music royalties they say could drive them out of business. Bob Moon reports.
Soon wannabe whistleblowers can spill corporate and government secrets online. Wikileaks.org promises the opportunity to post documents anonymously. But critics are already asking, says who?
Proposed legislation would allow shareholders a non-binding vote on executive compensation, but some business groups argue that corporations are not a democracy.
Some in Congress are getting anxious about the Chinese currency situation, but that's just one of the things U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson is in Shanghai to talk about, and change isn't likely to happen overnight.
Coca-Cola's operations in Venezuela will be forced to close for three days for allegedly breaking tax rules there, but it's unclear whether the shakeup is politically motivated.
Commentator David Frum says if Republicans want to have any hopes of winning in 2008, they'd better find a fix for the American health care market — stat.
The FDA has approved Tekturna, the first new class of hypertension drug in a decade. Tekturna controls blood pressure for a full 24 hours, but will that edge be enough to compete in a mature market full of cheap generics?
Ford has reportedly lined up a motor racing company to purchase its luxury Aston Martin division. Sales for the brand are on the upswing, but analysts agree that Ford is making the right move.
Online radio stations are facing a hefty hike in the royalties they pay to record labels for streaming music. If a federal copyright panel's ruling stands, it could wipe out smaller companies in one retroactive, fell swoop.
Some L.A. police are refusing to allow their private financial records to be made public as mandated by a federal decree. It's supposed to weed out corrupt cops, but the police union says it could drive good officers away.
Microsoft's corporate counsel for copyright, trademark and trade secrets gave a speech in New York today, claiming Google has a cavalier attitude toward copyright. Alisa Roth reports.
You know those people in your office who love making your life miserable? Your boss? A co-worker? Author Bob Sutton says we should have a rule against them. They're bad for morale and business. He talks with Kai Ryssdal.
President Bush announced his plans to investigate the problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Kai Ryssdal talks with expert Gordon Adams about some of the causes for those problems.
The Senate is considering different formulas for distributing Homeland Security funding. But regional squabbling threatens to derail plans to get a bill approved soon. John Dimsdale reports.
Productivity is slowing, which means companies are getting less out of their workers. Kai Ryssdal gets a quick assessment on the economic significance from investment advisor Hugh Johnson.
Town Meeting day has been a Vermont tradition. But attendance is down and the direct-democracy habit is fading. A bill in the state legislature hopes to revive the tradition. John Dillon reports.
They don't admit wrongdoing, but four major radio broadcasters have agreed to a major FCC fine to settle accusations that they regularly accepted cash from record labels in exchange for airplay.
Connecticut is investigating complaints that Best Buy tried to trick customers into paying full price for items that were supposed to be on sale. Best Buy says store employees just made a mistake.
Commentator Bill Langworthy points out that, much as in real-world real estate, a domain name's value is all about location, location, location. And, good or bad, typosquatters are just a keystroke away.
New technology is helping beef and dairy farmers turn a profit on a sustainable commodity right in their own back… well, barnyards. Seems one farm's cow poop can power hundreds of homes.
Sub-prime lenders are suffering double-digit drops on Wall Street. Consumer advocates say it's the fallout of shady lending practices, and today they launched a national campaign to address the problem.
The glamorous Champs-Elysées has been losing lustre as high rents and big retail chains crowd out the quaint Parisian shops and high-end clientele that made it famous. So the city has decided to battle the tides of modern commerce.
Researchers may have found a cheap, effective and highly portable solution for cleaning up unsafe drinking water in developing nations — and for cutting chlorine use in water here in the States.
Green is the theme in Geneva this week as automakers from around the world display new models and concept cars, but some environmentalists say they're just painting over the real problem with greenwash.
For the second-straight trading day the foreign-exchange markets had unusual influence on stocks, over worries about something called the "carry trade." Bob Moon reports.
China's socialists were making waves on the first day of the yearly meeting of the Chinese parliament today in Beijing. But Scott Tong reports that most eyes are on a few pressing business matters.
First-year associates at a top law firm in New York City are bringing down $160,000. Partners say it's just thanks for hard work. But Ashley Milne-Tyte reports there may be more to it than just gratitude.
Restaurant chain Ruby Tuesday says it will introduce a new "ultra-secure" credit-card processing system to protect customers from fraud. Lisa Napoli reports.
As Congress considers global warming legislation, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is hiring a former Marine Corps general to run its new Institute for Energy. Sustainability reporter Sam Eaton explains what's going on.
The U.S. Patent Office is joining the Internet age. The government wants your help deciding what new ideas deserve to be protected. John Dimsdale reports.
HSBC, the U.K.'s largest bank, managed to post a 5 percent second-half profit in spite of $11 billion in losses due to sub-prime loans gone bad in the States.
An anti-terrorism bill working its way through Congress would, among other things, give airport security screeners the right to union representation — but President Bush has his veto stamp ready.
Leaders in China are concerned that the nation's wealth is too concentrated in the hands of a few, but not everyone's convinced the momentum of the widening gap between rich and poor can be stopped.
Virgin Atlantic and British Airways have voiced opposition to a tentative open-skies deal between the U.S. and Europe. Seems they don't want to loosen their grip on London's Heathrow Airport.
Tariffs aside, the U.S. and Brazil, the world's largest ethanol producers, are working together to present a united front to push the biofuel. The goal? Counter the oil cartel.
Lebanon's tourism industry was booming until last year's month-long war between Hezbollah and Israel. Subsequent economic and political crises have left Beirut's downtown a shell of its former self.
