Week of January 6th, 2025

They do, in order to recoup expenses like staffing, logistics and supplies.

How the LA County wildfire wreckage might further stress the area’s already tight housing market. Plus, DOGE’s 2025 resolutions.

That’s 3% fewer than a year ago. If it keeps dropping, it could be a sign the labor market is getting warmer.

Return-to-office mandates and fewer Zoom meetings may be part of the reason why business travel is picking up.

Los Angeles has one of the lowest multifamily vacancy rates in the country. The fires will push rents even higher.

The avian flu keeps coming back, leading to millions of lost hens.

There are roughly 75,000 people in Los Angeles experiencing homelessness, and those in the path of the fires face additional risks.

Thousands of structures have burned in a region where the affordable housing crisis is already acute. What does this mean for the area’s existing unhoused population?

Ian Bremmer of the Eurasia Group says a volatile Mideast, Russian disruption and a strained U.S.-China relationship could all prove harmful.

We’ll unpack the risks for the global economy in the year ahead. Also, we’ll get a preview of today’s jobs report.

From the BBC World Service: U.K. government borrowing costs are hovering near a 16-year high. Why?

Joanna Stern, senior personal technology columnist at The Wall Street Journal, joins Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino for “Tech Bytes: Week in Review.”

Do you feel uncertain about the future economy? You aren’t alone. Plus, what we can do to make our homes and communities more resilient against fire.

China is said to be a key target of rules motivated by national security. The tech industry calls it overreach.

Rita Magalde, owner of Sheer Ambrosia, just completed her first holiday season in a commercial kitchen space.

The system is already strained by climate-induced disasters, says Wharton’s Ben Keys. Homeowners across the state may bear some of the cost.

Devastation in LA and elsewhere has taught us what can help prevent catastrophes — more firefighters, improved water systems and mitigation.

Turns out it’s a bit of both — and measurable.

As Japanese automakers slow production, Thailand is banking on investment from China to build up its EV manufacturing base.

The pandemic set the stage for the bankruptcies, although they were delayed by government payouts and PPP loans.

TikTok parent company ByteDance is asking the court to halt a law that would require the Chinese company to sell TikTok to a U.S. firm or face a ban.

On Friday, the Supreme Court holds the fate of many of the nation’s content creators in its hands.

This month, a new megaport will allow trade between South America and Asia to bypass North America entirely.

On July 15, 1979, amid inflation and long lines at the gas pump, Carter made a speech that in many ways exemplified his presidency.

Today is a national day to remember former President Jimmy Carter. This morning, we’ll reflect on Carter’s “malaise” speech.

From the BBC World Service: In Peru, a new Chinese-built megaproject could help dramatically speed up global trade.

Wired reporter David Gilbert explains how this could work out for Meta’s social media ecosystem.

Patients may not know that they’re entitled to an appeal if they are denied care.

As the California blazes demonstrate, the concentration of homes in urban areas raises risks and costs.

Spending on wildfire recovery has been growing for years. Plus, gas prices affect inflation, even when they’re excluded from the calculations.

The bargaining power that workers had a couple of years ago is not nearly as strong today.

Higher yields compensate for the higher risk of investing for 10 or 30 years, when it’s hard to predict how that future economy might look.

In the past 10 years, the state’s firefighting agency, Cal Fire, has seen its budget more than double to $3.7 billion.

Some Americans work a second job to make ends meet. Others do it to build up cash or gain experience in a different field.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that pump prices on average were 21 cents lower per gallon in 2024 than they were in 2023.

Today, we’re taking a generational view and discussing how millennials and Gen Zers are shaping the future of the U.S. workforce.

Cape Town is ranked as the world’s worst-performing port. So what is needed to turn its fortunes around?

Americans heading to the United Kingdom will need an Electronic Travel Authorization, or ETA, starting Jan. 8.

Companies could make their packaging more efficient and remap routes. Or expand cargo bike delivery programs, or schedule deliveries during the late night and early morning hours when congestion pricing is less expensive.

If tolls reduce congestion, it could make deliveries quicker and more cost-efficient, although daytime deliveries would still get pricier.

From the BBC World Service: In Cape Town, some experts think more automated technology is vital to improving efficiency.

Technology has helped Rotterdam’s container capacity triple in the last 30 years, the BBC’s Matthew Kenyon reports. But plenty of workers remain at the facility.

Port automation remains a sticking point in dockworker contract negotiations. Plus, best friends who own a home together.

Since moving from New York City in 2022, Jordan Heiden and Cass Lang have invested in solar panels, built gardens and attended city council meetings.

The trade gap signals strong demand for imports, which can be a good sign for the economy. Also, it’s been fairly stable relative to GDP.

In this excerpt from her book, Liz Pelly explores the rise of “ghost artists,” a side effect of Spotify’s endless stream.

Longshoremen and employers have a Jan. 15 deadline to avoid another possible strike. Workers fear automation will take their jobs.

It might not sound so bad for folks who dread shoveling the driveway in the morning. But some people need the snow to put bread on the table.

A deep dive into the booming anime industry.

You may have noticed empty shelves at your grocery store’s egg counter recently. When there are eggs available, prices have shot up.

One of Britain’s longest running industrial disputes took place in northwest England in the 1990s. What’s it’s legacy?

And why it might not have a big impact on U.S. offshore drilling anyway.

The Biden White House has finalized a new rule on medical debt before President-elect Donald Trump takes over.

From the BBC World Service: The Pentagon has added two of China’s corporate giants to a list of entities it alleges have military ties.

Niall Firth, executive editor of the MIT Technology Review, explains that so-called small language models are focused on useful tasks and much cheaper to develop and run than LLMs. For those reasons, he says, they’ll become pervasive.

We explain how import taxes can affect the U.S. currency’s value. Plus, retailers leverage AI, or try to, and the almond industry preps for new tariffs.

Use of customer service chatbots jumped, and retailers experimented with applications. For some, it can be tricky to sort through the options.

Spurred by tax cut policy, backers of “dynamic scoring” want the math to include wider economic benefits, not just implementation costs.

The dollar adjusts quickly to signals of where tariffs are headed, and higher import duties strengthen the dollar’s value.

For small businesses, owning a physical location often isn’t an option. But business owners can use a few strategies to make the most of renting.

Roughly 70% of California’s almond harvest is shipped overseas. Now, almond growers there are worried about becoming collateral damage in a trade war escalation under Trump’s second term.

But even if baby boomers plan to pass on housing wealth to their heirs, they might end up needing it themselves.

They’re starting 2025 at the highest they’ve been since last summer.

Donald Trump administration will apply tariffs to every country, but not everything. What are the implications?

The U.S. Surgeon General recommended big changes to the warning label on alcohol, including adding specific information on how it can cause certain kinds of cancer.

The U.S. Surgeon General is recommending changes to warning labels posted on bottles of alcohol.

From the BBC World Service: Though President Joe Biden has blocked a takeover of U.S. Steel, the drama isn’t over yet.

Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, argues that at least $30 billion of the AI developer’s $150 billion valuation should be invested in safety, ethics and access. “I think they’ve abandoned” their original vision, he says.