Week of June 15th, 2026

A “Marketplace Morning Report” special reporting series on diminishing access to rural health care services, how federal policy is making it more intense, and what can be done about it.

There are about 700 hospitals at risk of closure in rural communities around the U.S. What can be done about it?

A period of high borrowing rates has homebuilders offering deals and freebies to stir up demand. Plus: Hotel housekeeping, planetary sunshades, and grantwriting.

Bekah Jerde, executive director of Omaha’s Radio Talking Book Service, manages a modest budget, works alongside just two other employees, and oversees an army of volunteer readers.

Nearly two-thirds of builders are offering things like free appliances or lower-interest rate loans, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

There are four major market structures, which can tell us what the competitive landscape looks like.

On today’s show: skepticism about a long-term fix to conflict in the Middle East, and what’s lost when we stop tracking federal workforce demographics.

As states ban and colleges roll back DEI programs, Black students are left with less mentorship and support.

This Juneteenth, we're checking in on the state of higher education among Black Americans.

Plus, SpaceX acquires AI coding platform Cursor, and Meta tries to boost employee morale. Paresh Dave, senior writer at Wired, joins Marketplace's Meghan McCarty Carino for this week's "Tech Bytes: Week in Review."

“Once you realize how deep it is in all of our infrastructure, you start to see both how transformative it was and also really how risky it is,” said Katherine Dunn, author of “Little Blue Dot: How GPS Shaped the Modern World.”

We break down whether forward guidance helps or hurts the economy. Plus: GPS, an Iran agreement, the labor market, and used RVs.

In his first press conference, Warsh reaffirmed the Fed's commitment to price stability. But what that means in practice is anyone's guess.

Jobless claims dropped only slightly last week, and unemployment is fairly low at 4.3%. But that might feel different, depending on where you live.

Lack of leisure dollars and high fuel prices are causing shoppers of large recreational vehicles to hold back.

New Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh has said that AI will push down inflation. How would that work?

When fewer films and TV shows began being made several years ago, “diverse programming was the first thing to go,” said UCLA’s Dr. Michael Tran.

The battery range for current EVs isn’t fantastic for rural areas, where charging stations are farther apart. The new Slate truck is slightly edging in the right direction.

Can the new, affordable Slate truck coming onto the scene make headway with rural customers?

Scammers are impersonating casting directors with convincing emails and sometimes AI voice clones to steal money from aspiring actors, according Katie Kilkenny, labor and media journalist at the Hollywood Reporter.

How weddings went from one big day to a months-long financial commitment.

Just don’t peek at your savings account. Plus: Hobbies, household formation, and reserve currency.

Overall retail sales in May were up 0.9%, much more than economists expected. And it’s not just because things were more expensive.

When the price of housing is high, moving out of a family home or other group living situation to live on one’s own is less attractive.

According to the latest Census report, sales at sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument, and book stores were up 11.3% in May from the same time a year ago.

The U.S. dollar enjoys the “exorbitant privilege” of being the world’s reserve currency. What would happen if that changed?

Consumers are preferring cheaper chain pizzas.

This morning, we'll feature a discussion about how the affordability crisis is causing Americans to reevaluate what success looks like.

Inflation, housing costs, and job uncertainty are leading Americans to rethink what success looks like — and what they're willing to sacrifice to achieve it.

Social Security’s Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund is expected to run out of money in 2032. That means the next senator and president you vote for will have to address its shortfalls.

Today, we’ll discuss how Congressional inaction and immigration policy are playing into a bleak picture for Social Security benefits.

Anthropic has withdrawn access to its powerful cybersecurity AI models Mythos 5 and Fable 5, citing national security concerns. Raffi Krikorian, chief technology officer at Mozilla, questions who gets to flip that AI “kill switch” in the first place.

We dive into the ocean’s vast potential to store carbon.

As costs continue to rise for businesses owners, they are figuring out ways to save money on the back end.

Firms like Nvidia need heaps of cash to build out the AI infrastructure they’ve promised. Plus: Commercial solar power, San Francisco real estate, an apple farmer, and Fed press conferences.

The deal allows Fox to sell advertising on Roku's home page, including for Fox's own content, as well as take a cut of all the subscriptions for channels available on the app.

Federal tax credits for residential solar panel installation expired at the end of 2025. There’s just a couple of weeks left for most commercial and institutional projects to qualify.

Nvidia became the latest tech giant to sell bonds on Monday, offering up $25 billion. Others — Amazon and Alphabet, notably — have also gone to the bond market in recent months.

A new class of overnight millionaires and billionaires are bidding up San Francisco housing at the fastest rate in the country. And that’s before Anthropic and OpenAI have even gone public.

Fed Chair Jay Powell held a press conference after every interest rate decision. It wasn’t always done this way.

Corpus Christi’s water supply is reaching crisis levels, yet many residents are resistant to one of the long-term solutions: a desalination plant.

World leaders are meeting at the G7 in France, and one of the major topics is the diverse economic needs of Africa.

Aetna and Cigna are among the insurance companies leaving the marketplace in some states.

This summer is the worst youth hiring market in 80 years, according to outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas.

For the first time in years, the number of insurers offering Affordable Care Act plans has dropped. We’ll dig in.

On July 23rd, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will hold a meeting to discuss possible reforms to PJM Interconnection LLC, the nation's largest electric grid operator. Utility Dive’s Ethan Howland breaks down what led to this moment.

Bridget and Ryan get to the bottom of one of our most asked money questions, ever!

Should ratepayers shoulder the burden of new nuclear energy infrastructure? Plus: The first FOMC meeting with Kevin Warsh as Fed chair, social media charity challenges, and MAHA’s new textile target.

Charity trends like the Ice Bucket Challenge and Movember were everywhere on social media in the 2010s. But things change.

Rising inflation and the bond markets are telling the Fed to raise rates. The guy in the White House is demanding cuts.

While cotton is a natural fiber, the chemicals that come with processing it can muddy the waters.

Missouri is among several states reviving a financing policy that allows utilities to charge ratepayers for power plants as they're being built rather than after they come online.

Of the 25 million people who tuned into the U.S. team's debut at the World Cup, around 9 million watched in Spanish.

Today, we’ll hear from journalist and author Lee Hawkins about his new Marketplace series, “Must Be the Money.”

Mortgage rates are up since early spring, and home prices continue to rise, albeit more slowly.

Lee Hawkins' new series "Must Be the Money" explores what athletes, influencers, and entrepreneurs can teach about building wealth and navigating today's economy.

A tentative deal has been reached to end the war in the Middle East and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but details of the plan are scarce.

There’s been a decades-long push to grow the workforce, but many early career job seekers are hitting a firewall.

We go down the conspiracy rabbit hole so you don’t have to.

Before the Breakfast Club, billboards and her Brooklyn brownstone, Angela Yee was a broke college grad doing data entry.