Category: 4-FrequentNewsStreams

Two presidents known for their fiery rhetoric against each other met Tuesday in the Oval Office and apparently put their acrimony behind them. Colombia's President Gustavo Petro has long been a critic of President Donald Trump and the U.S. itself, but Trump this afternoon praised Petro and did not repeat previous threats of military action. Nick Schifrin reports. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

It's a big week for major televised events: The Winter Olympics kick off Wednesday and Super Bowl Sunday is nigh. Brands used to save their biggest, splashiest ad for such a slot. But this year, firms are pulling out all the stops to avoid controversy, or so much as hinting at a current event. Plus: Disney shows CEO selection is tricky business, PepsiCo announces price cuts on key salty snacks, and retail construction booms in Texas.

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Hey Smarties! We recorded today’s episode before the House passed a spending package that will end the partial government shutdown. We’re monitoring the situation as it develops.

President Trump has shown no signs of easing his pressure campaign on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. But this could spell trouble for Trump’s pick for Powell’s successor, Kevin Warsh. Marketplace’s Nancy Marshall-Genzer joins Kimberly to explain. Plus, we’ll get into what you should know about Warsh’s history at the Fed and more of the latest news from the central bank.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• "Trump’s Political Drama With Powell Overshadows Fed Rate Decision" from The New York Times 
• "What would Kevin Warsh bring to the Federal Reserve?" from Marketplace
• "Fed keeps interest rates unchanged, despite pressure from Trump" from Marketplace
• "Trump Needs an Off-Ramp for Powell Feud to Speed Warsh Into Fed" from Bloomberg
• "The economic headache that's coming for Kevin Warsh" from Politico

We love hearing from you. Leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART or email makemesmart@marketplace.org.

An Amazon data center is set to break ground in Hobart, Ind., this spring. Hobart Mayor Josh Huddlestun says the company will pay the $47 million upfront which could be used for infrastructure improvements. But residents say they still have not received a site plan and are asking for independent environmental impact studies. In the Loop hears from Angelita Soriano, a Hobart resident, and Jen Walling, executive director for the Illinois Environmental Council, which is supporting legislation that would put guardrails on data centers’ impact on the environment. For a full archive of In the Loop interviews, head over to wbez.org/intheloop.

Of course, we mean "What would Kevin do?" — Kevin Warsh, that is, President Donald Trump's nominee for Federal Reserve chair. And it's a question plenty of investors are asking as they try to feel out his views on inflation and Fed independence. We'll unpack. Plus, we'll head to Venezuela, where acting President Delcy Rodríguez signed a law last week opening the oil industry there to private ownership after two decades.

The Olympics are here. Sports journalist Christine Brennan talks with Amna Nawaz about covering 22 consecutive Olympic Games, big moments in Olympic history and the sports and athletes to watch this year. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

Layoff announcements have been coming fast and furious: 16,000 at Amazon; up to 30,000 at UPS; more at Dow Chemical, Pinterest, T-Mobile, and more. These latest workforce reductions won’t show up in the January jobs report, but they do suggest a labor market under increasing stress. This morning, we'll dig in. But first, tech companies like Google are considering putting power-hungry data centers used to fuel AI into space. What would that look like?

From the BBC World Service: President Donald Trump announced tariff cuts on goods imported from India and said that, in return, India promised not to buy any more Russian oil. But when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the tariff reduction, he didn’t mention anything about Russia or its oil. What gives? Then, following the U.S. military action in January, a bill currently before Venezuela's National Assembly aims open its state-dominated oil industry to foreign investment.

In his new book, Wall Street Journal tech columnist Christopher Mims offers a guide for getting the most out of the technology. He's compiled two dozen "Laws of AI" to shed light on the best ways to use these generative tools.

Yesterday we talked about how individuals can improve their productivity with AI, and today we're digging into how organizations can use — or sometimes misuse — it.

For the first time in more than a year and a half, Gaza has a border open to the outside world. But Monday's reopening of the Rafah crossing with Egypt was limited, and comes after a deadly weekend in Gaza. Nick Schifrin reports. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy