Marketplace All-in-One

The Trump administration has escalated its crackdown on legal immigration pathways that involve foreign workers and students. The most recent example is the suspension of eight major tech companies — including Microsoft and Adobe — from using the H-1B visa program to help workers obtain U.S. permanent residency. Trump officials have argued the program takes jobs from American-born workers. This morning, we’ll fact-check that claim. But first, we’ll hear why clean energy investments are on the rise.

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Marketplace Morning Report is more than a radio show. Check out our original reporting and financial literacy content at marketplace.org — and consider making an investment in our future.

Urgent concerns about losing control of AI have burst into the national conversation recently after the OpenAI hack of the open-source AI platform Hugging Face, the high-profile resignation of an Anthropic researcher, and other AI insiders sharing alarmingly high p(doom) figures — that is, the probability that AI kills us all.

An event listing for a picnic beckoned people in the AI scene to spend a Sunday afternoon talking about recent calls to slow down the technology.

Dony Christie, a community organizer in the AI safety scene, chose this spot not for the scenery but because it’s between the offices of Anthropic and OpenAI.

“The hope is, why can't people at the labs just meet at a park in between them and work out a deal?” he said. “I have been concerned about existential risks for a long time. Just like, what do I do to save the world?”

To help celebrate spooky season we’re sharing an episode from our dustry haunted archives about two of the biggest economic frights of all. When Lulu wrote in asking about recessions and depressions Ryan and Bridget went to the experts at the Federal Reserve. While learning about how the Fed keeps an eye on the health of our economy, the pair accidentally unleash an economic disaster. They’ll need the help of the Fed’s Recession Crushers to get things back in line. Who ya gonna call? The Recession Crushers!

A few Big Tech firms are slated to explain their quarterly earnings later this week. AI will, of course, be the protagonist of these earnings calls. Investors are hoping for some positive character development, or at least a spoiler for any plot twists. In this episode, the next installment of the AI narrative. Plus: Central banks prepare for interest rate setting, Treasury rates rise with heightened risk, and the Energy Department adds helium to its critical materials list — again.

Every story has an economic angle. Want some in your inbox? Subscribe to our daily or weekly newsletter.

Marketplace is more than a radio show. Check out our original reporting and financial literacy content at marketplace.org — and consider making an investment in our future.

Read the stories in today’s episode:

AI is the main character in Big Tech's earnings stories
Will the world's central banks rase interest rates this week?
At the Belcourt Theatre, you can see everything (including the documentary)
Helium is back on the U.S. list of 'critical materials'
Treasury interest rates are up because they're looking risky
Aging farmers and the government want to save farms, but for many the cost is too high

The Federal Reserve begins a two-day meeting on interest rates tomorrow. Just last month, the Fed hiked rates by a quarter percentage point. Since then, oil prices have surged, and consumer inflation has intensified. This morning, we dig into analyst expectations for where interest rates go next. Also in this podcast: investor doubt creeps in when it comes to AI spending, and carmakers grapple with competition from China.

Every story has an economic angle. Want some in your inbox? Subscribe to our daily or weekly newsletter.

Marketplace Morning Report is more than a radio show. Check out our original reporting and financial literacy content at marketplace.org — and consider making an investment in our future.

Stories from this episode:

Volvo is limping out of a bruising quarter. The carmaker's CEO blames Chinese competition.