Week of August 17th, 2026

Reece Rogers, a senior writer at Wired, requested a copy of the data McDonald’s keeps on him based on his use of the loyalty app.

Christopher Joe runs birdwatching tours on his father’s Black Angus cattle farm in Alabama.

What it’s like to be one of 1.8 million long-term unemployed Americans. Plus: the hidden cost of loyalty apps and a surge in lone star ticks.

A look at the bond market, a trade deal with Canada, and all the rest of the week’s economic news.

The personal savings rate is currently just 2.7%, much lower than it was in decades past.

Ticks are spreading in the U.S., and carrying diseases like Lyme and alpha-gal syndrome, which causes an allergy to red meat. That could cost the livestock industry billions.

More than a quarter of people who are unemployed have now been out of work for at least 27 weeks. Some for much longer.

This morning, we meet one of the Girl Scouts featured in a new documentary called “Cookie Queens” to hear what she’s learned in her cookie-selling journey.

Many families are spending less on school supplies this year by buying cheaper brands or fewer items overall. Retail analysts are worried about what this will mean for the holiday shopping season.

This morning, we look at how many families are spending less on back-to-school supplies this year.

Plus, AI hardware is being stolen, and Amazon is scaling up its drone deliveries. Paresh Dave, senior writer at Wired, joins Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino on this week’s “Tech Bytes: Week in Review.”

Should the Treasury issue more short-term bonds to finance the $40 trillion national debt? Plus: Multifamily construction, PCE methodology, and craft stores.

Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh and other central bankers will be in Jackson Hole, Wyoming next week for a conference. Meanwhile, local residents combat high prices and rising rents.

Construction permits for multifamily housing rose 9% in July compared to June.

The Treasury wants to use short-term borrowing to finance the national debt. While short-term interest rates are usually lower than long-term rates, they’re also more volatile.

Methodology changes to PCE are coming right as the central bank makes critical decisions about interest rates.

Jeff Bezos is part of a group of investors that just purchased about a third of Liverpool F.C. in England.

The billionaire founder of Amazon is now part of a group that owns a minority stake in Liverpool.

Homes are “equity-rich” when owners owe less than 50% of what their homes are worth and “underwater” when they owe more than the entire value of the house.

Major pharmaceutical companies like Eli Lilly are exploring how psychedelics might be used to treat mental health disorders like PTSD or treatment-resistant depression.

It all has to do with investors’ confidence in the United States’ long-term financial stability.

The administration notified Congress that it plans to spend over $175 million to replace undersea cables in the Caribbean and Central America.

The part of having a baby that no one wants to talk about.

The cost of imported goods was up 4.5% year-over-year, when you cut out volatile energy prices. Plus: Bond buybacks, Venezuela-U.S. oil deals, and a tariff standoff.

Microdramas are already big business in China, but can they make it in the States? The founders of Knockout Shorts, a new Hollywood studio, think they can.

Venezuela’s oil minister, Paula Henao, spoke to Venezuelan state television from Houston, Texas on Tuesday night to announce the investments.

Stripping out the cost of imported energy, imports are about 4.5% more expensive than at the same time last year.

The Treasury Department announced that it will spend $4 billion on buying back longer-term government bonds. We have an explainer.

The Mexican government has launched its own line of electric vehicles, with technology from China under the hood.

Five years after tens of thousands of Afghans were airlifted to U.S. cities, many have built careers as dental assistants, mechanics, and attorneys.

The debate over what to do about interest rates continues. And things have changed since the Fed’s last meeting in July.

Later this afternoon, we'll get minutes from the most recent Federal Reserve meeting. What should we expect?

At least a dozen states have reported cyberattacks on their water systems, starting with Minnesota in late July. But other kinds of infrastructure – like hospitals or the energy sector – are also vulnerable, said Nikita Shah, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Can the cattle industry bounce back from meatpacking plant closures? Plus: housing starts, retail earnings, a distillery business, and the global bond market.

Neutral shades reign supreme right now. Here’s why the “color recession” may outlast other interior design trends.

Target, TJX Companies (parent of TJ Maxx and Marshalls), and Walmart all report earnings this week.

Pending home sales and housing starts are down. Meanwhile, mortgage rates hover above 6.5%.

The family-owned Backwards Distilling Company decided to open a second location in Wyoming this year, despite an uncertain market.

The closures may turn out to be a problem when the size of the herd bounces back.

In this episode: free school meals, big retailers' quarterly results, and a buyer's market

A new study reaches that conclusion by comparing the U.S. to Belgium, where wages are indexed to inflation by law.

The number of people looking to buy a home hit a record low in July. For wealthier buyers, there are deals to be had in many parts of the country.

A year after many Canadians boycotted travel to the U.S., border crossings have risen slightly. In northeastern Vermont, businesses are doing what they can to welcome Canadians back.

The average worker in the U.S. who stayed in their job between 2021 and 2024 saw their wages decline by 9% after inflation, a new paper finds.

The FAA has proposed waiving some environmental requirements for space launch.

You won’t believe how many quarters went into making this episode!

Consumer spending might not rebound quickly, according to the University of Michigan’s survey for August. Plus: China’s economy, GDP, Colorado mail fraud, Reddit, and plastics.

Have you ever gotten mail addressed to a strange business, instead of to you? Thousands of Colorado residents have reported their addresses are being used to register fake companies.

“It leaves some things out, but it is a very good gauge of the health of an economy,” said Allison Schrager, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and columnist at Bloomberg Opinion.

China’s consumers are spending less. A slowdown could be on the horizon.

Consumer sentiment tumbled in early August, according to the University of Michigan survey. July retail sales were down more than half a percent from June, and AAA reports the nationwide average gas price neared a record high for August.

The so-called “front page of the Internet” started with a $100,000 investment two decades ago, and is now worth more than $30 billion.

A glut of polyethylene had squeezed U.S. producers for years. But the war in the Middle East disrupted the global plastics market, sending prices higher and improving margins for producers along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

This morning, we learn more about a new shipping lane from China's East Coast to the largest port in the U.K., which traverses the Arctic.

China and Russia have come together for a new shipping route between Ningbo, China, and Felixstowe, in the U.K. The new path could cut shipping times in half.

Without a chairperson for the industry watchdog in Washington, tribal gambling operations are hampered.

Ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is (once again) essentially halted.

Tatiana Cirisano, analyst at the entertainment consultancy firm MIDiA Research, discusses AI music company Suno’s approach to encourage independent artists to use AI.