Author: Marketplace

The Trump administration is working to tamp down alarm over a new, $100,000 visa fee it announced on Friday. Technology, finance, and other major companies that depend on employees holding H-1B visas had initially thought the fee would be applied to existing visa holders, and those with H-1B workers who were temporarily abroad panicked. The fee only applies to new visa applicants, though, the White House later clarified. Also: an AI industry political action network and dark clouds for Broadway productions.

Stocks are on a winning streak. The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq indexes all closed at record highs on Friday. Now, everything that goes up can go down, but there are some reasons to think the bulls may stick around for a while. We'll hear more. And later, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is pushing for stricter regulations on drug advertising. What could change?

From the BBC World Service: In his first broadcast interview since taking office, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung talked about the potential impact of the expulsion of Korean workers from a U.S. battery plant. Also on today's show: more disruption is expected at airports in Europe following a cyberattack; we do the numbers on costs associated with Europe's spate of wildfires this summer; and London's Oxford Street, one of the world's busiest shopping areas, went car-free for a day.

Here’s cautionary tale for you, out of China, about a young woman who says she fell in love with an artificial intelligence chatbot. There have been well-publicized instances of people seeking companionship from chatbots and it leading to tragedy. In this instance, it caused heartbreak. The story involves the Chinese AI firm Deepseek which, earlier this year, launched a chatbot that's almost as good as its American rivals. Soon after the launch, a young woman began a conversation with that chatbot. Marketplace’s China correspondent Jennifer Pak takes the story from there.

On today’s show, Kimberly is joined by Marlon Hyde, business and economics reporter for WABE in Atlanta, to unpack the fallout of the massive ICE raid at a Hyundai facility in Georgia in which hundreds of South Korean nationals were arrested. And, we’ll get into what Atlanta small business owners are worried about these days. (Spoiler: it’s tariffs.) Plus, we’ll play a round of Half Full/Half Empty!

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• "Immigration raid at Georgia Hyundai factory tests state’s longstanding relationship with South Korea" from WABE
• "Hyundai says it will spend $2.7 billion expanding part of the Georgia complex raided by ICE" from AP News
• "Atlanta develops human rights action plan for 2026 FIFA World Cup" from WABE
• "After another subpar summer of going to the movies, what's next?" from Marketplace
• "Finally, the era of free in-flight WiFi is near" from The Washington Post
• "Costco's New Shopping Hours Are a Sign of Tierification of US Economy" from Business Insider 

• "People are boycotting Disney, Hulu, and ESPN after ABC yanked Jimmy Kimmel off the air. Will it work?" from Fast Company

  
  

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Google announced it will integrate Gemini, its AI assistant, into the Chrome web browser. That will transform Chrome — the most used search engine — into an “agentic” browser. More on what that means for your data privacy and the race to advance AI tech, in this episode. Plus: Independent craft stores aim to fill the void left by Jo-Ann Fabrics, and how feeding the 82% of Alaskan communities that don’t have road access is a feat of public infrastructure.

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If you have, you're not alone. American consumers lost more than $1 billion to fraud on social media in the first six months of this year, according to the Federal Trade Commission. That’s almost ten times what it was five years ago. Today, we'll hear how consumers can protect themselves. But first, we know what the Federal Reserve did with short-term interest rates this week. What's driving long-term interest rates right now?

Zillow reports that new listings fell to a record low in August, with sellers putting about 7% fewer homes up for sale than in July. Meanwhile, homes are staying on the market longer than a year ago, and home prices are barely growing in most markets. What's going on? Plus, Harvard economist Jason Furman cautions that we could get stuck in slow monthly job growth as a result of immigration policy.

From the BBC World Service: We'll start today in Mexico, where trade talks have taken place between Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who agreed to deepen ties as both countries face new tariffs from their neighbor, the U.S. – 50% on Canadian steel and 25% on Mexican pharmaceuticals, for example. We’ll also learn about the unauthorized resale of soccer tickets in England. And later, could hydrogen be used to help reduce emissions from the steel industry?

Anita Ramaswamy, columnist at The Information, joins Marketplace’s Nova Safo to break down all of these headlines. This episode was produced by Jesús Alvarado.