Marketplace

(Markets Edition) The volatile nature of the markets, especially this week, can take a mental toll on anyone paying attention. It hasn’t been this active since February, so we talked to market pro Barry Ritholtz, founder of Ritholtz Wealth Management, about it. Then, despite all the news of trade tensions between China and the U.S., China actually has a trade surplus with the U.S. Nancy Marshall Genzer has more.

It’s getting more expensive to get a mortgage. Data out this week from Freddie Mac shows the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is 4.9 percent. That’s the highest it’s been in seven years. What does that mean for prospective home buyers? 

(U.S. Edition) The Dow’s roughly 1400-point drop this week seemed to have a ripple effect across the global markets as well, but now things appear to have settled down as of Friday morning. We talk to Barry Ritholtz of Ritholtz Wealth Management on how to deal with this kind of activity day-to-day. Then we check in with columnist and ProPublica editor Allan Sloan about the role of interest rates in the ongoing tale of President Trump and his blaming of the Federal Reserve for the market issues this week.

(Global Edition) From the BBC World Service … Businesses are turning away from Saudi Arabia after reports a dissident journalist was killed by the country’s security forces. Then, we hear from Paul Romer, who won this year’s Nobel Memorial Prize in economic sciences for his research into how innovation can be used to protect the environment. Afterwards, Netflix and Amazon are battling in India to increase viewers. But competition from Indian production houses is complicating efforts.

In just the last week, Facebook and Google have both announced new smart speakers with video screens. And Amazon is heck-bent on putting Alexa in everything. On the one hand, people seem to want these doohickeys. Research firm Canalys says global smart speaker sales grew 187 percent in the second quarter of this year. On the other hand, an always-on, always-connected listening device in the home really freaks some folks out. Let's dig into this in Quality Assurance, the segment where we take a deeper look at a big tech story.

In just the last week, Facebook and Google have announced new smart speakers with video screens. And Amazon is bent on putting Alexa in everything. On the one hand, people seem to want these doohickeys. Research firm Canalys says global smart speaker sales grew 187 percent in the second quarter of this year. On the other hand, an always-on, always-connected listening device in the home really freaks out some folks. We dig into this in Quality Assurance, the segment where we take a deeper look at a big tech story.

Retirees and other Americans who get Social Security benefits will start receiving bigger checks come January. The 2.8 percent boost, which amounts to about a $40-per-month increase on average, is intended to be a cost-of-living adjustment. This will be the biggest adjustment to Social Security payments in the past seven years. Marketplace spoke with a few of the estimated 67 million Americans receiving benefits about how the extra money will help.

The AARP estimates more than 10 million people 50 and older are at risk of going hungry every day in the United States. In Florida, where many baby boomers retire, this food insecurity is compounded by a lack of public transportation. Some food banks are holding food drops to bring food and other health-related events to the neighborhoods where they live in an attempt to reach more high-risk seniors.

This story was produced by the Marketplace hub at WMFE in Orlando.

If you watch late night TV — "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," in particular — you probably know the show’s house band, The Roots. And perhaps you'd recognize its drummer and frontman, Questlove, aka Ahmir Khalib Thompson.

Thompson is also a DJ, a producer, an author, a foodie, and a podcaster on Pandora with "Questlove Supreme." He came into the studio Thursday to talk with Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.

This series originally ran during February 2014. We're republishing it today in light of our Make Me Smart podcast's new Explainathon episode, which included the first question here. The rest are good too, and the original article appears below.

Roughly one in three people in the United States have less than $5,000 in retirement savings, but for those lucky enough to have some money stashed away, the cost of investing has been getting lower and lower. Management fees for mutual funds have dropped to fractions of a percent over the last decade, and some funds have no fees. So what's driving the fee wars? What do institutions get out of it? We'll talk about it. Then, a conversation with Ahmir Khalib Thompson, better known as Questlove of the legendary Roots crew, about deciding to accept his biggest job offer.

(Markets Edition) We take a look at inflation numbers in light of the Consumer Price Index’s rise by a tenth of a percent last month. Then we talk about pollution from a seemingly unlikely source: meat. Large meat processors have released more pollution than acceptable in streams and rivers according to a new study.

The Consumer Price Index tracks the average price change over time for a "basket"  of goods and services. The CPI takes into account things like food, transportation and health care. If the CPI goes up, that's considered an indication that the inflation rate is rising. But when the Federal Reserve calculates the inflation rate, it relies on something called the core PCE, the personal consumption expenditures price index. Why use a different measure? 

(Global Edition) From the BBC World Service … Stock markets around the world are in retreat as a selloff ricochets from the U.S. Is it the latest buy-the-dip opportunity or are there more serious risks at play? Then, a conference on the illegal trade in wildlife opens Thursday in London – it's worth $22 billion a year, making it the fourth-biggest transnational organized crime. Afterwards, prepare for takeoff: The world’s longest non-stop flight, from Singapore to New York, clocks in at 19 hours and launches Thursday.

The whole multitrillion dollar promise of 5G and its millions of jobs and new businesses is just a pipe dream without infrastructure. Unlike 4G, which can be delivered through a relatively small number of tall towers, 5G wireless service relies on lots and lots of small receivers placed fairly close together. And installing all those little 5G cells is turning into a big fight. (10/11/18)

The whole multitrillion dollar promise of 5G — millions of jobs and new businesses — is just a pipe dream without infrastructure. Unlike 4G, which can be delivered through a relatively small number of tall towers, 5G wireless service relies on lots and lots of small receivers placed fairly close together. And installing all those little 5G cells is turning into a big fight.

At Tuesday’s American Music Awards, Taylor Swift repeated a plea she’d made earlier to her 112 million followers on Instagram: Register and vote. Swift is the latest celebrity to join what’s been a concerted effort this year to boost voter registration among young people.

Some sensitive industries — everything from technology to defense firms — will face tougher federal scrutiny under new regulations formalized Wednesday. The Committee of Foreign Investment in the U.S., or CFIUS, announced its pilot program will take effect in 30 days. The announcement has some innovation, defense and tech companies scrambling to comply so they don't face penalties.

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Shares of Sears fell today on reports from the Wall Street Journal that the company has hired advisors to prepare a bankruptcy filing. The department store chain has been struggling for decades, announcing one turnaround effort after another.

With a nod to the fact that nominations for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame came out this week, there's an economic reality about the music business that needs to be recognized: Last year, hip-hop and rhythm and blues replaced rock as this country’s most popular music genre. That’s according to Nielsen’s analysis of digital and physical album sales as well as streaming. There's a twist here, though, because what Nielsen did not consider was how much money people spend on concerts.

One U.S. dollar today is worth about 9.92 Chinese yuan. That's down nearly 10 percent from where it was last spring. That drop has the attention of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who said Wednesday he wants to make sure China is not doing "competitive devaluations." That's when a country seeks an advantage by making its currency, and therefore its goods, cheaper relative to other countries. But the cheap yuan might have more to do with what's going on in the United States than it does with China.

Click the audio player above to hear the full story.