Segments From This Episode

• PMI data shows a mixed picture for businesses, and mixed emotions

  by Sabri Ben-Achour

  

  Manufacturers are optimistic, partly because of tariffs. In services, execs are glad the winter is over but not bullish on the full year.

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• Homeownership rates stagnate for young people

  by Elizabeth Trovall

  

  Amid elevated interest rates and high costs, millennials and older members of Gen Z made no gains in owning homes in 2024, Redfin data shows.

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• What role do Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac play in the U.S. mortgage market?

  by Matt Levin

  

  They don’t make loans themselves, but they help banks make more of them.

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• Inside the $3 billion independent college counseling industry

  by Kai Ryssdal and Andie Corban

  

  Counselors offer services like essay editing, extracurricular guidance and university visit scheduling — sometimes for a six figure price.

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• For former federal workers, the move to state or local government can come with drawbacks

  by Savannah Peters

  

  Officials in Maryland, New York, New Mexico and Kansas City are among those launching recruitment campaigns targeting federal workers. But matching those workers’ federal salaries and competing with private sector offers will be tough.

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• In Baltimore, bridge builders must be economic futurists

  by Stephanie Hughes

  

  The rebuilt Francis Scott Key Bridge will have to accommodate not just the ships and trucks of today, but those of a 100 years from now.

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