Airing on Thursday, March 19, 2015: Media entrepreneur and former mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg is teaming up with fellow billionaire Bill Gates to help low and middle-income countries fight legal challenges from tobacco companies. We’ll have more on that. Plus, the National Urban League ‘State of Black America’ report is out Thursday. We look at how Blacks and Hispanics fare with education and the economy — this year for the first time, the report includes a state level education index. We’ll also talk about Apple’s first day of trading on the Dow with Washington Post columnist Alan Sloan.      

Airing on Wednesday, March 18, 2015: We’re set to get the latest read today on when the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates. It may sound counter-intuitive, but rising interest rates may be a boon for the housing market. Plus: The EU is looking to make European governments exchange information about tax arrangements with multi-national companies, making “sweetheart deals” and tax incentives more difficult. Finally, the latest dispatch from the Marketplace Tech team down at SXSW. Privacy was the big theme at Austin’s massive technology gathering in 2014. This year, it’s anonymity.

Airing on Tuesday, March 17, 2015: First up today, China’s stock market is back up to pre-2008 levels, we take a look at what’s fueling that bounce back and why it took so long. Then: New figures out today are expected to show an increase in housing starts. We look at the state of housing, what it means for the wider U.S. economy and whether pent-up demand for housing is about to spur this laggard sector. Finally, this St. Patrick’s day means a lot of heavy drinking, which in turn increases chances of sexual assault. From Savannah, Georgia, we take a look at the way bars are implementing bystander training to keep their establishments safe.

Airing on Monday, March 16, 2015: The Fed meets Tuesday. We explain what inflation data and indicators the Fed will be looking at in its deliberating an interest rate increase. Plus, Canada is proposing tougher standards for rail tankers that carry oil, after the latest oil train derailments involved oil coming from the Alberta tar sands. The rules would require replacing just about all tankers currently in service. The U.S. is considering similar standards.

Airing on Friday, March 13, 2015: China is leading the charge to build a global lender that could someday rival the World Bank, now Britain is joining in, rankling the White House. We get an update from the Financial Times’ George Parker. Then: The White House has been looking at problems with local law enforcement. Not only did the Justice Department issue its report on Ferguson, Missouri, but a presidential task force on 21st Century Policing issued a report in March. In addition to the social costs, police misconduct costs money.  One watchdog group found that Chicago paid out more than half a billion dollars over a 10-year period. How does the tab get so high?

Airing on Thursday, March 12, 2015: The Federal Reserve just released the results of its second round of stress tests, and two European banks have failed. We chat with the BBC’s Andrew Walker about what went wrong. Next up: Bankrate.com issues its survey on how Americans intend to use their tax refunds. Are Americans really as frugal and responsible as they claim to be? Finally, we get the latest dispatch the LearningCurve team at the SXSWedu conference in Austin.

First up: bankers scanning the results of the first round of the Federal Reserve’s stress breathed a small sigh of relief last week. Thirty-one of the biggest U.S. banks were under the microscope, and all 31 passed. But it’s not over yet. Today the Fed announces part two of the annual stress test designed to see whether banks have enough capital to withstand another financial meltdown. Why is this such an important issue for banks and to what extent is it changing how the banking industry works? Then: The UK isn’t hitting NATO’s targets for defense spending, and now the government is reportedly looking into some “creative accounting” to meet targets. We look into it. Finally: We chat with Keith Ferrazzi over at Ferrazzi Greenlight about business relationships.  

Airing on Tuesday, March 10, 2015: The rarified world of international banking is getting some new talent with news the longtime CEO of Credit Suisse is out. Although the management change was sudden it hardly comes out of nowhere, given the Swiss bank’s struggles in recent years with new regulations that followed the 2008 financial collapse. More on that. Plus, when the housing market exploded, the fall out rained particularly hard on a handful of U.S. cities: Las Vegas, Phoenix, Atlanta. Yet in the last year, home prices across the country continued to edge up, leading to some optimism that even hard-hit cities were recovering. But if you visit the suburbs of Atlanta, you might find a tale of two recoveries.  

Airing on Monday, March 9, 2015: Today, the biggest credit reporting companies will announce changes on how they collect, check and report on the bill paying habits of 200 million Americans. Changes are focused on how they handle errors on the all-important reports and how those reports track unpaid medical bills. We have more on this emerging story. Plus, privacy advocates are concerned about a cyber security bill drafted by the Senate Intelligence Committee. The committee wants to make it easier for companies to share information on potential cyber attacks with the government. Critics counter that ‘sharing’ will make it easier for the government to spy on its own citizens. We explore. Plus, as Marketplace heads South to Austin, TX for SXSW, reporter Adriene Hill joins us to talk about SXSWedu, a festival and conference where education meets innovation.