Week of December 17th, 2018

As Congress anticipates a federal shutdown, some federal workers could face the holidays without a paycheck. We hear from employees and contractors about their concerns going into the holidays. Earlier this week, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the fourth time this year, increasing rates from 2.25 percent to 2.5 percent. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has plans to hike interest rates two more times in 2019 if the economy stays strong, but some want to pause rate increases. Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari joined us to discuss why he thinks the Fed should be patient with raising rates and the risks associated with those rate hikes. Then, a dispatch from tax hell. With filing season on the horizon, accountants are scrambling to understand the new tax law. 

By some economic measures, this has been a rough December. Stock prices? Falling. Markets? Volatile. Government? Might shut down. Interest rates? Gnashing of teeth. Recession coming? In the conversation. Consumers’ outlook on the economy? Improving. Wait, what? It’s true. Consumer sentiment rose in December. Why? Click the audio player above to hear the full story.

Despite the drama around the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates, financial markets gyrating and stock indexes tanking, we got a snapshot of the whole economy this morning. The final reading on third-quarter gross domestic product was slightly lower than expected at a 3.4 percent annual growth rate. Marketplace’s Mitchell Hartman explains why this year’s very strong […]

The president tweets the looming government shutdown will “last for a very long time,” much to the markets’ dissatisfaction. After yesterday’s chaos  at a London airport, where does regulation on drones stand? Plus, UPS strives to avoid last year’s late holiday deliveries with the latest tech at giant, automated “super hubs.” Today’s show is sponsored by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and Navy Federal Credit Union.

Flights at the U.K.'s second busiest airport were grounded because of multiple drones deliberately flown into its airspace.

As the off-again, on-again partial government shutdown looms, we ask, “Who’s ‘essential,’ and who’s ‘non-essential’?” Prognosticators say the U.S. GDP will shrink next year. Plus, Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood drops in to break down Facebook’s recent privacy scandal, the latest of many.  Today’s show is sponsored by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and Navy Federal Credit Union.

From the BBC World Service… Britain’s second biggest airport, Gatwick, has reopened more than 30 hours after it was shut down by a rogue drone. The ensuing chaos threatened to ruin Christmas for more than 100,000 passengers on one of the busiest travel days of the year. An aviation expert assesses the costs. Over in Germany, the country’s last coal mine closes today. The fossil fuel used to be a bedrock of the German economy, but the country is now looking to meet climate change targets. And Spaniards are hoping to hit the holiday jackpot after a year fraught by political and economic upheaval.   Today’s show is sponsored by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and Navy Federal Credit Union.

Time is pretty much up for you to do your last-minute Christmas shopping if you’re buying through Amazon. You could still go to a store, but who does that anymore? It is not a stretch to say that Amazon is trying to take over all things holiday. It tends to offer something new this time of year. In 2018, it’s fresh Christmas trees, delivered to your doorstep. How does Amazon hope to compete in the Christmas tree market? And why? Joshua McNichols is a reporter at public radio station KUOW in Seattle and co-host of the podcast “Prime(d).” He explains  how Christmas trees fit into Amazon’s big-picture strategy. Today’s show is sponsored by Orvis  and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

Thursday saw another big stock market sell-off.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 464 points, or 1.9 percent. The Dow is off 10 percent for December, and the Nasdaq is down more than 19 percent since Aug. 29. The bond market has been heading in the opposite direction these last few weeks, as increased investor interest […]

Today the Altria Group – the tobacco giant that used to be known as Philip Morris – announced it’s spending $12.8 billion to buy a 35 percent stake in Juul Labs. That’s the e-cigarette maker that dominates the vaping market here in the U.S., and which some public-health advocates worry is getting another generation hooked […]

Today was another keep-you-on-your-toes day in the stock market: Investors are buying, prices are going up and yields are going down. We talk about what that all means. Also: It’s the holiday season, and there are just a few days left until the kids unwrap their toys. We take a look back at the history of Hot Wheels, products that made Mattel $847 million last year. Plus, we take a closer look at the creator economy and the dark side of social media influencing.

The chairman of the Fed “felt” the market when it decided to raise interest rates this week but not enough, it seems. China, an IRL superpower, lauds the late Stan Lee at a World Trade Organization meeting. Errant drones shut down a busy airport in London. And in 2019, millennials will outnumber baby boomers. How will the younger set’s consumer habits shape the future economy? Today’s show is sponsored by Orvis, Alliance for Lifetime Income and Indeed.

Teachers have a tough job, and usually, social media is more of a classroom distraction than a help. But recently Molly took a field trip to Madison Park Academy, a public high school in East Oakland, CA, where she visited  Jacob Levy, a social studies teacher who’s using Instagram to make his job teaching government a whole lot easier. 

After the Fed’s decision to raise interest rates yesterday, we look at why — in such a strong economy with inflation so low — the hike was necessary. Plus, we’re wrapping up our Divided Decade coverage for the year. Today, we look at the not-so-lucky Americans who graduated into the recession in 2008. How are they faring today? And finally, National Returns Day, the peak day for returning gifts via UPS, arrived before Christmas for the first time. Today’s show is sponsored by Orvis and Alliance for Lifetime Income.  

From the BBC World Service…Former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn could soon be released on bail after a Japanese court rejected a request to extend his detention. Then, the French government will release its revised budget after Yellow Vest protests spurred violent debate about President Emmanuel Macron’s economic reforms. So, what’s in the new budget blueprint? Afterwards, the West African nation of Togo has seen some economic growth over recent years, but many feel it hasn’t been inclusive and political instability  has made things worse. And despite violent unrest, the government will push ahead with elections today. 

The District of Columbia sued Facebook today for sharing users’ personal data with consulting firm Cambridge Analytica before the 2016 election. But that may be the least of the company’s troubles today. A New York Times investigation has revealed that Facebook has been sharing WAY more of its users’ data with other companies than we […]

Experts say the shipping company’s earnings offer a look ahead at where the economy’s going

President Trump seems to have softened his stance on border-wall funding as a make-or-break issue to avoid a government shutdown. Instead, he says Mexico will pay for the wall indirectly through the new NAFTA agreement, now known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). It’s an idea he’s mentioned more than a few times, but so […]

Today the Fed announced that it would raise interest rates for the 4th time this year. Higher interest rates means Fed watchers on Wall Street are reacting. We break it all down. Then, how FedEx is a sort of bellwether for the economy. Later, we cover the latest in Facebook’s data privacy struggles – which include a lawsuit and a New York Times investigation. Also: the United Kingdom’s Court of Appeal ruled that Uber drivers are considered company employees, so we talk about what that means for worker wages. Plus, Stephan James, the star of “If Beale Street Could Talk,” on his job as an actor.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin blames recent market volatility on high-speed trading and the Volcker Rule, which bars banks from making risky bets with their money. FedEx stock dips after it voices concern over a global economic slowdown. All eyes are on the Fed as it decides on the much-anticipated interest rate hike Wednesday. And in one British town, the “Garbage Queen” saves valuable rubbish from a doomed fate at the landfill. Today’s show is sponsored by Orvis, Navy Federal Credit Union and Indeed.  

On Wednesday, the Fed will decide on whether to raise the interest rate for the fourth time this year or take the president’s suggestion and “feel the market,” but what does either move mean for the average consumer? A decade after the subprime mortgage crisis triggered the Great Recession, rising home prices coupled with lower sales signal a not-as-calamitous slowdown. Facebook faces another privacy scandal. Plus, remember the Blackberry? Well, it never really left. Today’s show is sponsored by Orvis  and Navy Federal Credit Union.

From the BBC World Service… Merger mania in the pharmaceutical industry: Pfizer and Glaxo SmithKline agreed to combine their consumer health businesses into one company with sales of more than $12 billion. Then, the mobile unit of Softbank made history in Japan today with the largest trading debut there, but the share price fell 14 percent. So, why does the tech giant need the money from its initial public offering anyway? Plus, a look at how a rising number of cancer cases in India’s “food bowl” region is causing farmers to move away from toxic pesticide use. Today’s show is sponsored by Orvis  and Navy Federal Credit Union.

There’s only one digital-first news organization on Twitter’s top 10 most-tweeted-about news outlets. It’s NowThis News, a media company delivering news mostly to millennials, mostly via video on Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube and other platforms. NowThis launched in 2012 with no print or broadcast baggage. NowThis reports 2.6 billion video views a month, reaching 70 percent of millennials at any given time. But lots of digital media companies, especially the ones aimed at millennials, laid off employees or closed in 2018. Publishers found that relying on Facebook or even Google for views could be risky. Molly Wood spoke with Tina Exarhos, chief content officer at NowThis, at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Next Gen conference last week. Today’s show is sponsored by Orvis  and Navy Federal Credit Union.

Fifth-generation technology is designed to be faster and to connect more devices at once. The hope is that it may spur new ways of communicating person to person, but also between devices, enabling things like autonomous vehicles. AT&T says it is starting its 5G rollout with a dozen cities where it has a strong client […]

The president has some advice for the Federal Reserve ahead of the Fed’s meeting on interest rates. We’ll talk to Bloomberg’s Jeanna Smialek about the recent market volatility and what is causing uncertainty. Also, several new studies have found many CEOs are worried a recession is near, even if the economy is relatively strong. Is it possible to talk ourselves into a recession? Plus: The attorney general of New York ordered a dissolving of the Trump Foundation amid an ongoing lawsuit and investigation into the foundation’s finances. The Washington Post’s David Fahrenthold has been covering the Trump family’s businesses and this court case since the very beginning. We’ll talk to him about how the Trump Foundation got here. Spoiler: It involves a $10,000 portrait of the president. 

President Trump not-so-subtly urges the Fed to “feel the market” instead of raising the interest rate this week. Unemployment continues at record lows, but that depends on who counts as “employed.” It turns out women are participating less and less in the labor market. Plus, the good news: teen drug use is down. The bad news: vaping is up… like, way up. Today’s show is sponsored by Indeed, Selligent  and the Alliance for Lifetime Income.

Following a seemingly endless stream of scandals at Facebook, the NAACP is asking people to logout of the social media platform Tuesday. And despite low unemployment, a new HUD report shows homelessness rose this year. Plus, customs agents at the U.S.-Canada border in Michigan, which has legalized recreational marijuana use, are closely scrutinizing travelers associated with the pot trade, causing some to give up on doing business in the U.S. altogether. Today’s show is sponsored by Indeed, Selligent  and the Alliance for Lifetime Income.

From the BBC World Service… China’s 40-year long march towards reform has transformed a once poor country into the world’s second largest economy. President Xi Jinping has vowed to continue the march, but on Beijing’s own terms. Will its trade war with the U.S. and a Great Wall of debt hamper the Asian giant’s efforts? Then, U.K. soccer club Manchester United’s manager is out. What does his ouster mean for one of the world’s most powerful entertainment businesses? Plus, the gender gap has narrowed, but it will still take more than a century to close. From the school desk to the workplace, what needs to change? Today’s show is sponsored by Indeed  and Selligent.

Voice-enabled smart speakers kind of came out of nowhere to become a huge deal in consumer electronics over just the last two years. Amazon launched the category with its Alexa devices, and the digital assistant is now showing up in cars, home entertainment systems — even a microwave. But as its popularity increases, so do questions about privacy, security and what might be coming in the future. Toni Reid, vice president of Alexa skills and Echo devices at Amazon, spoke to Molly Wood at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Next Gen conference last week in Laguna Niguel, California. Today’s show is sponsored by Orvis  and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

The wind power industry is still catching its breath after a remarkable auction. Last Thursday, and into Friday, wind energy companies outbid each other for the right to build wind farms off the coast of Massachusetts. In the end, the winning bids before the Interior Department were higher than the latest auction price to drill […]

Google has announced plans to double its New York offices with a $1 billion investment. The new urban campus, in a lower Manhattan neighborhood, isn’t exactly what forecasters had in mind when they predicted tech would expand out of Silicon Valley, bringing jobs and innovation to small cities across America. Google’s move comes on the heels […]

Many Americans were close to retiring when the financial crisis hit. As part of our series Divided Decade, we’ll look at the long road to recovery for seniors. But first, what you need to know about that Affordable Care Act ruling. Then, we’ll look at what happens to the thousands of Californians displaced by fires.

Goldman Sachs finds itself in the middle of a Malaysian financial scandal. A look at the upcoming meeting of the Federal Reserve, where interest rates are sure to be the main topic of discussion. Plus, not everyone is as excited as Elon Musk is about the Boring Company’s ambitious plan to end gridlock by digging tunnels under L.A. Today’s show is sponsored by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and Indeed.

Obamacare remains, but there’s a new epidemic of uncertainty. Good jobs numbers are translating into a lot of spending by consumers. Plus, the town of Paradise in Northern California was ravaged by a massive fire last month. As the town attempts to rebuild, business owners have been left with few options for their own recovery. Today’s show is sponsored by the Alliance for Lifetime Income.

From the BBC World Service… Two former Goldman Sachs employees have been indicted in the 1MDB scandal, but today, Malaysian authorities became the first to file criminal charges against the U.S. investment bank for breaking the country’s securities laws. Then, the U.N. wants to raise more than $350 million for Palestinian territories after the U.S. cut funding this year and a blockade from Egypt and Israel that has caused a 50 percent unemployment surge.

Teenagers have been over Facebook for years. They’ve migrated to Snapchat and Instagram, and about 20 million of them have headed over to Houseparty. It’s a live video app where people drop in on each other to chat or leave video messages and hang out, with up to eight people at a time. The name Houseparty sounds like kids maybe doing we-don’t-even-want-to-know-what on live video, but co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Sima Sistani tells Molly Wood she wants Houseparty to be used for real personal connections and empathy. Today’s show is sponsored by Mozilla  and Wizard Pins.