Latest Stories

Latest Stories

Business owners are warily stocking their inventories

May 8, 2024
With interest rate cuts uncertain, businesses owners are keeping their shelves a little leaner. But that's not necessarily a bad sign.
Businesses don't know if the Fed will cut rates this year. As a result, “they’re making decisions, in some cases, to postpone purchases until they absolutely need it,” says Dale Rogers at ASU.
Kylie Cooper/Getty Images

How GE made history: a look back at an iconic conglomerate

May 8, 2024
In April, General Electric split itself up to focus on wind power, aerospace and health care. Its finance and media divisions are long gone.
A General Electric employee viewed rows of wind turbine parts in 2021. GE was an "incredible industrial company and built truly incredible things," reporter Ted Mann said.
Sebastien Salom-Gomis/AFP via Getty Images

Schwan’s won customers with its ice cream delivery. A new name and layoffs challenge its legacy 

May 8, 2024
Since 1952, Schwan’s yellow trucks and friendly drivers have been delivering frozen food to households. The industry has become more competitive and crowded and recently, the company changed names and stopped deliveries in most states.
The company’s new name draws on its yellow trucks. “It’s not easy to build a new brand,” CEO Santana said. “But the food and the service is the same, and we will reinforce the new name with our customer base and attract new customers.”
Courtesy Yelloh

Millions more Americans travel to bird-watch. Texas businesses are cashing in.

May 8, 2024
Up to 10,000 birders visit High Island each spring, boosting business for the small restaurants and motels near and along the coastal area.
Visitors watch for warblers and other migratory birds at the Boy Scout Woods bird sanctuary in High Island, Texas.
Elizabeth Trovall/Marketplace

Play along with us

May 8, 2024
We're watching "Indie Game: The Movie" this month.
Remember what computers used to look like?
Still from "Indie Game"

Can Macao — the "Las Vegas of the East" — move beyond gambling?

May 8, 2024
China wants to transform Macao, known as the "Las Vegas of the East," into a real Vegas that relies more on entertainment and tourism, and less on gambling for its revenues. 
Chinese tourists take photos outside Macao's Londoner Casino in October 2023.
Peter Parks/AFP via Getty Images

Yet another version of the fiduciary rule is coming

The Biden administration's rule overhauls requirements for retirement plan advisers to act in the interests of clients.
designer491/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Bud Light still struggles to recover from anti-trans boycott

May 8, 2024
Last April, Bud Light became the target of a conservative boycott over a 45-second promotional video posted by a transgender influencer.
Bud Light's response to backlash following a sponsored ad featuring a trans influencer "was poor on every level," said Joanna Schwartz at Georgia College and State University.
Natalie Behring/Getty Images

Auto workers union drive heads south

May 7, 2024
The United Auto Workers are getting pushback from Southern Republicans, but gains in Detroit are driving interest in Alabama and elsewhere.
An office in a strip mall is headquarters for UAW organizing at the Mercedes-Benz complex in Vance, Alabama.
Mitchell Hartman/Marketplace