Thursday, May 27, 2004 The Marketplace Morning Report with Kai Ryssdal and Tess Vigeland is a series of seven 9-minute business news modules airing weekdays. This timely report delivers a global business newscast and a hard-hitting feature report. Visit the archive to browse previous stories. Note: Each of the broadcasts contains some of the newscast items below and one of the features. Since only a few radio markets get all seven broadcasts, we've made them available below.

Broadcasts Listen: 5:50 | 6:50 | 7:50 | 8:50 | 9:50 | 10:50 | 11:50 (times are a.m., Eastern Daylight Time)

Newscast Stories From Washington: Now that the economy is on an uptick - more and more Fed watchers are saying inflation fears will force Alan Greenspan to raise interest rates at the next meeting. But some economists are unconvinced that will have much of an effect on rising prices. From Paris: It's no secret that Wal-Mart is looking to expand its operations in Europe. This week chairman Lee Scott is in Brussels, leading to reports that the world's largest retailer could be looking at supermarket chains in France as possible takeover targets From Washington: The federal government's new Al Qaeda warnings coincide with new research that suggests the group's financing remains intact. And their money trail is more elusive than ever. From Los Angeles: Now that some money is flowing into the economy again, the restaurant business is starting to pick up. But small, local eateries have some catching up to do. From Washington: This years budget deficit is pushing $400 billion. The Bush administration has pledged to cut that number in half over the next few years - but it has said little about how it plans to do that. From London: The UK was the number one destination in Europe for investment by foreign companies last year. But there is a cloud on the British horizon: increasing competition from China. From Los Angeles: The idea of a Billboard-style chart for cell-phone rings might sound a little silly. It did to American music publishers and record companies several years ago. Unlike their European counterparts, they were slow to see the big money that a little bit of music would ring in. From New York: Can a code of ethics clean up the mutual fund business? Among the new rules the Securities and Exchange Commission approved yesterday - all fund managers and other investment advisers will be required to adopt such a code by the start of next year. Features Did the Housing Bubble, Pop? Have we finally seen the end of the housing boom? Marketplace’s personal finance guru Chris Farrell thinks so. He joins host Kai Ryssdal to discuss some of the reasons why.

Business & War Business often looks to the military for inspiration. But USC business school professor Michael Keane says the armed forces can also learn a few things from the business world. He got an up close look at the war earlier this year and joins host Cheryl Glaser to talk about what he discovered.

Can Wal-Mart Win Europe? Wal-Mart faces some challenges as it tries expanding into Europe. From Paris, Alisdair Sandford reports. Then, the Economist’s Margaret Doyle discusses how European countries’ desire to create corporate mergers across borders conflicts with their feelings of nationalism.