Marketplace

Balloons are no longer just for birthday parties. Companies are creating air-filled works of art that can cost thousands of dollars.

Superstar singer Rihanna is already known as a fashion icon and, certainly since the launch of her make-up line Fenty Beauty, as a business phenom.

The U.S. and China could have struck a deal this week, putting an end to the longstanding trade war between the world's two largest economies.

Instead, President Trump raised tariffs on more than $200 billion worth of Chinese imports. The rate was raised from 10% to 25%, sending shock though the stock market.

U.S. agriculture has been hit particularly hard by trade tensions. American farmers have been paying retaliatory tariffs to China for soybeans and other crops since last year.

Uber had its much-anticipated initial public offering Friday — despite losing $1.8 billion over the last 12 months, which makes it the all-time biggest money-losing IPO. The results were less than spectacular: Uber priced its shares toward the low end of estimates at $45 a share. They opened at $42 and closed at $41.55.

Meanwhile, shares in Uber's rival Lyft have lost nearly a third of their value since that IPO back in March.

American farmers thought it was going to be a pretty good week. Until President Donald Trump announced a tariff hike on Chinese goods. That hike went into effect today, so we see how farmers are feeling. Also: Uber started publicly trading today, off 7.5% on Day One, so we look at why investors seem skeptical about the ride-hailing business. Plus: a snapshot of economic life on America’s riverboats.

The ride-hailing company Uber goes public Friday in one of the biggest initial public offerings in history. Uber, however, is not seeking every penny it can potentially get from investors in its IPO. The company has priced its initial shares at $45 per share, at the low end of the price range the company and the banks it enlisted for help with its IPO had originally suggested.

Nike says three out of every five people are wearing shoes that are the wrong size. So the sneaker company is launching an app to measure customers' feet before they order. It’ll be available on phones and in stores in July. It could help the athletic apparel maker minimize the perennial and expensive problem of returned merchandise.

As the United States has pulled back from the Middle East — politically and economically — a new powerbroker is trying to move in: Russia. Moscow has leveraged its oil market power to partner with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the oil cartel's most powerful member, Saudi Arabia.

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President Trump appears to be very comfortable with long-term tariffs. AI might help you order the right-sized Nikes online. Plus, with the U.S.'s gradual economic and political egress from the Middle East, Russia is finding an opportunity to fill the vacuum in the petroleum supply chain.

Today's show is sponsored by Indeed, the Michigan Economic Development Corp. and Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage.

The wage gap between working mothers and working fathers is at least $18,000 a year, according to a new analysis by the National Women’s Law Center. It’s even larger for women of color: black mothers lose $30,000 a year; Latina mothers, $35,000.

Maya Raghu, director of workplace equality at the National Women’s Law Center, said discrimination and stereotypes about mothers’ commitment to work are to blame.

Talks are continuing following the U.S. announcement that it's officially raising tariffs on Chinese goods, and more threats from President Trump keep coming, but China is already saying it will hit back. Plus, with the U,S.'s gradual economic and political egress from the Middle East, Russia is finding an opportunity to fill the vacuum in the petroleum supply chain.

Today's show is sponsored by Indeed, the Michigan Economic Development Corp. and Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage.

This week, Google showed off lots of new privacy-oriented tools and products and user agreements at its big developer conference, Google I/O. Apple is marketing privacy. Facebook is promising privacy, eventually. Federal officials are still trying to figure out privacy laws and regulations. But Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Romer says company promises and even regulations won't change anything because the ad-supported business model is what's broken.

This week, Google showed off lots of new privacy-oriented tools and products and user agreements at its big developer conference, Google I/O. Apple is marketing privacy, Facebook is promising privacy, eventually. Federal regulators are still trying to figure out privacy laws and regulations. But Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Romer says company promises and even regulations won't change anything because the ad-supported business model is what's broken. He argued in The New York Times this week that the United States should tax revenue from targeted advertising.

The 10-year treasury auction this week was a bit lackluster. Demand for the note, a safe haven for investors, was at its lowest in 10 years.

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Rock climbing, popularized on social media and the subject of many documentaries, is set to debut in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games — a sign that the sport has arrived, athletically and economically.

Andrew Bisharat, who’s covered climbing for National Geographic, told Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal that it’s come a long way in a short time.

“Competing on plastic holds, in an Olympic setting, has been quite a transition that’s really rapidly taken place in the last few years,” he said.

What was supposed to be a quick trip to urgent care became a lesson in how sick the medical system is for one mother and her two kids. But first: The latest trade deficit numbers are out. What do they say about ongoing trade negotiations with China? Then: How do IPOs like Uber's impact already expensive housing markets? Also: The thirst for craft spirits.

Google’s 2019 I/O conference is underway in Mountain View, California, with 7000 software developers registered to attend. The company is laying out its plans for software updates for the next 12 months, and revealed a new, lower priced, Android phone, and an in-home voice assistant with a larger screen and camera.

As well as attracting new users, the new hardware and software could allow the internet giant to collect even more user data, but Google says it’ll provide new ways to delete it.

French President Emmanuel Macron has said that Notre Dame Cathedral, ravaged by fire, will be rebuilt in five years. To do so, France will rely on master craftsmen called "companions," whose extraordinary apprenticeships in carpentry or roof-tiling, for example, stretch back to the building of the European cathedrals in the Middle Ages. How do they keep the old skills alive?

Tenuous trade talks with China have some big implications for Uber, and his has little to do with cars. President Trump's budget gets graded. Amazon's smart speaker for children is under scrutiny. Plus, we look at the centuries-old guild of "compagnon" craftsmen tasked with rebuildingParis' Notre Dame cathedral following a devastating fire.

Today's show is sponsored by BitSight Technologies and Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage.

On Friday, the newest stock to trade on Wall Street will have the ticker symbol "UBER." Yes, the ride-hailing company is going public. But because of uncertainty over the U.S.-China trade war, it may not raise as much from investors as it hopes. Some tariffs have a direct impact on Uber's businesses.

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From the BBC World Service... As fresh U.S. tariffs loom on Chinese goods, can an 11th-hour trade deal be struck? Then, as Uber prepares to float on the New York Stock Exchange, we look more closely at the urban-rural, ride-hailing divide. Plus, economists have warned for years that robots are coming for our jobs. In order to avoid the scrap heap, a new report says many workers will have to be retrained or face taking a pay cut.

Uber is going public tomorrow, listing its shares on the New York Stock Exchange. Some employees of the company stand to make millions, even billions of dollars.

And Uber is giving drivers with more than 2,500 rides on the platform cash bonuses that they can use to buy stock at the initial public offering price. The amounts range from $100 to up to $40,000, depending on how many rides a driver has.

But how much of a benefit is that to drivers who are already unhappy with their pay?