Since it’s unlikely the Fed will make any interest rate moves at this week’s meeting, it’s safe to assume rates will stay up for at least a while longer. That means potential borrowers are weighing whether to wait out the Fed or get access to capital now, despite the cost. In this episode, local bankers tell us about the current lending climate. Plus: The EU promises to increase U.S. energy spending, credit card issuers lean in to premium cards with high fees, and Congress makes major changes to vehicle fuel efficiency regulations.
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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.
Over the weekend, President Trump announced a new trade deal with the EU: 15% tariffs on most goods in exchange for the EU’s promise to purchase U.S. energy. But a court case brought by a group of small businesses could derail Trump’s tariff agenda. We’ll explain what’s at stake. Plus, a reminder to get outside and enjoy what nature has to offer. (But stay cool!)
High home prices and high mortgage rates have been holding buyers — and the market — back for a long time now. Now, economic uncertainty is shaping people's house hunt. More would-be buyers have paused their home searches recently, and there’s been a nearly 50% increase in people listing then de-listing their homes. Also: how markets are responding to the U.S.-EU trade deal, and how Chile's ramped-up lithium processing might impact the environment.
Government data is at risk. Federal funding for the main statistical agencies, like the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Commerce Department, has been tight for years. But since the Trump administration took office, threats to the availability and comprehensiveness of federal data have reached a whole new level — impacting everything from national health and crime statistics to key economic reports. We'll learn about the impacts. But first: a look at what's in the U.S. trade deal with the European Union.
From the BBC World Service: EU leaders are being briefed today on a new deal with the United States that halves the tariff President Donald Trump threatened to put on European goods, but the compromise still means a 15% import tax on most products. And not everyone is happy with the deal. We'll hear more. Plus, lithium extraction uses huge amounts of water and can devastate local ecosystems. Can new technology make mining more environmentally friendly?
Temperatures this summer have been hotter than usual, a trend we have come to expect with climate change as records are continually surpassed.
While many of us can ride out extreme heat in the comfort of air conditioned interior spaces, outdoor workers don’t have that option and must contend with the risks of serious injury which can be acute and long lasting.
A fast growing market for wearable cooling products, both in high tech and low tech varieties, is attempting to meet the challenge. Among those products is the CülCan, made by the Tennessee based small business Black Ice.
“If you can pull heat away from your hand, it'll cool your whole body down. And so that's what we've done with the CülCan. It's basically a five inch cylinder that contains our special coolant,” said Mike Beavers, co-founder of Black Ice.
A key selling point of the product, according to Beavers, is that the coolant inside, which is a chemical composition Beavers designed, doesn’t get as cold as ice, so it is easier to use on a person’s skin.
“You put it in ice water or a freezer… and then you just hold it in the palm of your hand,” he said. “That is now our most popular product. We sell tons of those things.”
Beavers said his business has been growing by about 30 percent a year over the last three years, an acceleration from its previous pace. The company has been around for about 20 years.
Across the Atlantic, the Swiss company GreenTeg is also reporting growing demand for its continuous body temperature monitors, which are worn with a patch or a strap. The monitors are often employed by athletes who have to perform outdoors, said CEO and founder Wulf Glatz.
“So this device can communicate then with your smartphone,” he said, “and it will estimate your core temperature and broadcast that value to that device.”
Being able to monitor core temperature can help with prevention. Unlike a simple thermometer which, if put against the skin, would only tell you the temperature on your skin, GreenTeg claims its monitors can measure the temperature inside the body. It is that core temperature that is key to whether someone is developing heat-related illness.
Glatz says there’s growing interest in his company’s technology. They’ve been approached by organizations representing firefighters, the military, miners and airfield workers.
“If there's an airplane landing, you need to unload the baggage. You can't wait for three hours for it to get cooler, but what you can do is to measure the individuals and really have them safe,” he said, “maybe you need to exchange teams in higher frequency, maybe you need to equip them with cooling gear.”
Brett Perkison, an environmental and occupational medicine specialist at UTHealth Houston, tested one of GreenTeg’s monitors in combination with cooling vests. In a small study, he found the combination approach helpful in limiting heat related illnesses among outdoor laborers.
The problem with the personal cooling industry is that not all of the gadgets being sold to the public are proven to work.
For example, ones that use fans to cool the body, such as ventilated helmets, are unlikely to do much in humid environments, said Fabiano Amorim of the University of New Mexico, who has studied heat stress on outdoor workers in Brazil and the U.S.
“[Helmets with fans] can increase the comfort or let's say your perception to heat, but it's not reducing your temperature,” he said.
Not reducing core body temperature on hot days can have serious consequences. The number of heat-related emergency room visits in the summer of 2023 totaled 120,000, according to the CDC.
Heat stress can cause someone to get lightheaded and fatigued. More serious symptoms include seizures. Repeat exposure to heat stress can permanently damage people’s kidneys, Amorim said. The condition can be fatal.
“We have seen people 40, 50 years old, [who are] dying from chronic kidney disease. And, they don't have any factor that's related to the traditional chronic kidney disease. That's hypertension, obesity and diabetes. And, the only history these people have is working under hot environments,” Amorim said.
Many people do not develop serious symptoms until it’s too late. That means employers must be proactive in employing cooling gadgets and strategies such as rest breaks in shaded areas, access to cool water, and access to bathrooms so workers feel confident in drinking plenty of liquids.
But while more tools to avoid heat illness are coming to market, companies are not racing to adopt them. Many do not have adequate heat stress prevention programs at all.
“There needs to be an acceptance by the business community, the public community, about the ramifications of heat stress. So I would hope that if we continue, instead of having 20% of businesses having an adequate heat stress prevention program, in 10 years, we'll have 80%,” Perkison said.
Adopting cooling gadgets as part of prevention programs faces hurdles. Aside from concerns over efficacy, there is also the problem of measurement. Perkison said it is hard to tell when someone is struggling with heat before symptoms start.
“There's not a lab value that we can get to identify when somebody has heat stress,” he said, which means that it is hard for companies to keep track of workers’ health and know when to take action, unless they use a digital monitor like the one provided by GreenTeg.
Mike Beavers, the Tennessee-based inventor of the CülCan, said he has been surprised by the diversity of his client base, including the many people with multiple sclerosis who are using it.
The disease of the central nervous system causes symptoms such as numbness and trouble walking which, for some, can worsen in heat.
“We had one guy write us a full one page letter handwritten that basically he was bragging about the fact that he could actually go out and cut his yard now,” Beavers said.
Dynamic or 'surveillance' pricing is a relatively common practice. But what's changed is the sheer volume of our personal data available online, and how good AI has become at connecting the dots. With news that Delta Airlines plans to use AI to set up dynamic pricing for a large share of its flights, Marketplace's Kimberly Adams explores how widespread this practice already is in other industries. But first: social media buzz sent an eclectic mix of stocks, or 'meme stocks,' on a volatile ride this week. We look at why traders are making such risky bets. Plus, a snapshot of how things are looking for mortgage brokers and farmers right now.
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.
Earlier this week, President Trump announced a “massive” trade deal with Japan. But as Japanese officials clarify some of the terms, it’s not clear how concrete the deal actually is. We’ll explain. Also, some wealthy Democrats who stand to benefit from Trump’s tax cuts are rallying against them. Plus, we’ll play a round of Half Full/Half Empty!
This week, President Donald Trump said the baseline rate for so-called “reciprocal” tariffs on countries around the world could now land somewhere between 15% and 50%, higher than what was previously floated. But according to Princeton international economics professor Gene Grossman, "it's not clear exactly what the purposes are, and many of them are in contradiction with each other." But first: Since the spring, oil rig count has dipped to near-pandemic lows. What gives?
In an awkward visit to the Federal Reserve building, which is under construction, President Donald Trump continued to push for lower interest rates. But even if Trump had a compliant Fed, he wouldn’t necessarily get the lower borrowing costs he wants, because the central bank doesn’t directly control the rates the president is concerned about. We'll learn more. Also, we'll provide an explainer on what tariffs on products versus countries mean for the economy.
